The War of the Dead: After the End
by Shadethenightfury
Summary: Eight months after a zombie apocalypse, two high school friends, a punk rocker and a dragon meet in a ruined Massachusetts town. From their, they travel north in search of the one thing that may save their world. Along the way, they gain many allies- and enemies. Part post-apocalyptic epic, part mega-crossover, with elements from How to Train Your Dragon, Pokemon, and Portal.
1. Prologue

**Hey! Welcome to the first real fanfiction I ever wrote!**

**I started this back in 2011 and finished it in June 2013. I decided today that I'm going to put it up on here. It's basically a massive crossover of me and my friends fighting zombies along with dragons and other things. I listed it as an HTTYD/Pokemon crossover because those are the two franchises I borrow the most from. The storyline, however, is false.**

**I've changed some names of people and towns, by the way. Just saying.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the copyrighted material presented in this story.**

**Now, onto the Prologue.**

* * *

**Prologue**

**Chicago, Illinois**

It was six o'clock in the morning. The sun had just risen, the city was quiet, and Ben was speeding through the ruined streets in his red 2009 Dodge Viper. In one hand he gripped the steering wheel, his fingers tapping to the beat of a song by the punk-rock band Still We're Forgotten, his favorite band. In the other hand he held an Uzi.

Ben was an eighteen-year-old of average height and build. He had short, curly brown hair, and brownish eyes. He wore a dark grey sweatshirt, blue jeans, and glasses.

He spotted a zombie up ahead. He waited until it got closer, than in one swift movement, without even slowing down, he pointed the gun out the window at the zombie and fired. The three bullets fired from the gun hit the zombie right between the eyes. It fell to the ground, and the wall behind it was splattered with blood.

He kept driving.

In the world after the zombie infestation, he was one of the few survivors who was still living well. Sure, he had some trauma, and missed his friends and family every day. But there was nothing that could be done about that, and he got his revenge, many times over, every single day.

Killing zombies was his job. The zombies had to be put down. One way or the other, the job had to be done. They weren't people anymore; they weren't even animals, and he was going to kill them. He saw no harm in having some fun with it.

These days, he was a wanderer. He went where he felt like going, and did what he felt like doing. Right now, he was heading west. He wasn't sure why he wanted to go west, he just knew he did.

During his spare time, he ran a traveling radio station, EOD Radio, from his car. Every few hours, he would spend a half an hour or so talking, and the rest of the time he would spend playing his music. He thought of it as his own Galaxy News Radio.

He saw another group of zombies up ahead. Coincidentally, the song on his radio had changed to "Undead" by Hollywood Undead. He slowed down a bit and gunned the zombies down in a rain of bullets and blood.

Five zombies.

Five rounds.

After a few more minutes of driving and shooting, the song changed again. This time it was another Still We're Forgotten song. It was only moments after that Ben saw him.

At first he thought it was just another zombie, and he was holding up his Uzi when he saw something else. The man's fist was in the air, and the thumb was sticking out.

As far as he knew, zombies didn't hitchhike. He put his gun down and eased his foot onto the brake.

By the time the car came to a complete stop, he knew the man wasn't a zombie. Zombies could barely walk; they moved sluggishly and aimlessly. This man walked straight, and with purpose.

When the car was completely still, and the man was walking up to the window, he realized something else.

"No fucking way," he said, incredulous.

Standing before him, dirty and thin from months on the road, but very much alive, was Trent, lead singer of Still We're Forgotten. Ben wasn't sure what his last name was. Come to think of it, he didn't think anyone did.

He was of about the same stature as Ben, except a little taller. He was a thin African American man with brown eyes, medium length black hair, and a mostly clean-shaven face. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and a pair of blue jeans, and his arms were lined with tattoos.

"Hey," said Trent. "Mind if I hitch a ride? I need to get somewhere."

"Not at all," said Ben. "Get in."

Trent jumped over the door and into the passenger's seat, placing the backpack he was wearing on his lap. "You're Trent, aren't you?" asked Ben.

"Yep," he said. "That'd be me."

"Dude, I pretty much worship your music."

"I can see that," he said, gesturing at the radio. His music was still playing.

"Where are you heading?" asked Ben. "I'll drive you wherever."

"Well, right now I'm heading for a house on the other end of the city," said Trent. "After that, who knows?"

"What house?" asked Ben.

Trent pulled out a map. "I'll guide you there. Keep going straight for now."

Ben drove. "So, where's the rest of the band?"

Trent looked out the window, apparently contemplating his response. "Dead," he replied after a few moments. "Or worse."

"Shit…" said Ben.

"Yeah," said Trent, obviously not wanting to talk about it.

After another minute of nothing but music, Trent glanced at his map and instructed, "Turn right at this intersection up ahead."

Ben turned right. "So what exactly is in this house? Is it your house?" he asked, in quick succession. "You lived here, right?"

Trent thought for a moment, and then replied, "Nah. I've already been to my house. There's something important in this one."

"What?"

"Well," Trent began. "Still We're Forgotten was always about doing something about the problems in our world, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well I'd say these zombies are a big problem."

"So you're trying to do something about it?"

"Yeah. I think I may be on the verge of finding a way to wipe them out completely."

"Is that what's in this house?"

Trent was silent for a moment. Then, he said, "I don't know. But if the answer to this problem isn't here, then at least another clue is."

They kept quiet for a few minutes. During this time, the playlist Ben had set up ended, leaving them in silence. Trent kept guiding him. When they were deep in the city, Trent asked, "You don't happen to have anything to drink, do you?"

"I've got some beer in the back."

"That sounds alright."

Ben pulled the car over and went to get the beer out of the trunk, taking the Uzi with him. He made sure to not take his finger off of the trigger. When he returned with it, Trent held his hand out, and Ben passed him one.

"You know," Trent said while opening the beer, "It's nice to see someone who doesn't want to eat me for a change."

"Same here. Especially someone I know."

"I wish I could say the same thing," Trent chuckled. "Which reminds me… I'm afraid I didn't catch your name."

"Ben," he replied.

"Nice to meet you, Ben."

"Same here. More than nice to meet you."

Trent laughed. "Glad to know I still have fans. Say… How much of my music do you have anyway?"

A half hour and a bit more than half of a Still We're Forgotten albumlater, they arrived at Trent's destination.

"Thanks for the ride, Ben," Trent said as he got out of the car.

"Hey," called Ben as Trent started to walk away. "I'll keep a lookout for you, okay?"

Trent grinned. "Thanks. Oh and by the way… Your car is awesome."

Ben spent the next hour or so watching the house and shooting any zombie that stepped in his range. When Trent finally came back out, he seemed excited about something.

"Drive," he said as soon as he got in the car.

Ben drove. "You seem happy. What's up?"

"I think I found it. The key to everything. I know where it is."

"What?"

"The thing that will put an end to this once and for all. It's all here," he pulled a flash drive out of his pocket. "In this."

"Okay… I'm not following. Start at the beginning."

"I always knew this country had skeletons in its closet… But you'd never believe exactly how many. And one of them proved to be the death of not only America, but the entire world. They had these… experiments they were doing in labs hidden all around this country. And I just found where the center of the entire operation might be. If we can find it… We may be able to wipe out all of the zombies."

"Okay," replied Ben. "I'll take you wherever you need to go. Just so long as you explain to me what the hell it is you're talking about."

"I'll tell you everything as we go," said Trent. "But we need to get to New Hampshire. That's where it is. That's where I need to be."

"New Hampshire it is, then," said Ben. "Looks like I'm going home."

* * *

He watched as the whole scene unfolded.

He watched as Ben met Trent and drove him across Chicago.

He heard their entire conversation.

And now the scene was changing. Faces flashed in front of him. Faces he once knew. Faces of people he had begun to assume dead.

Ben. Sam. Joey. Andrew. Alex. Jean. All of them.

Then the scene changed again. He was in a pitch black room. He couldn't see anything, but he could feel something restraining him.

He heard footsteps behind him.

"Who's there?" he tried to say, but nothing came out.

A light came on. It blinded him; he couldn't see anything, except for a pit in front of him. Something was in it. At first he couldn't tell what, but as his eyes got used to the glare, he realized with horror what it was.

The pit was full of dead bodies.

The bodies were bloody and mangled beyond recognition, but despite that, he knew exactly who they were.

He tried to scream, but he couldn't make a sound. He tried to run, but he couldn't move. Terror coursed through his veins. He felt like he was going to vomit.

And then footsteps, behind him.

They moved closer.

And suddenly, they stopped.

The last thing he felt was hot breath on the back of his neck, and cold, sharp steel pressed against his throat.

He screamed, and was jolted awake. He felt his neck, and looked back.

There was nothing there but the wall.

He breathed heavily, and a feeling of relief swept through him as he realized it had only been a dream.

Or had it?

Above him, a pair of eyes was fixed on him, filled with concern.

"It's okay," he said to their owner. "It was only a dream."

But he knew in his heart that this wasn't true. He didn't want to think of what the last part meant, but he knew the rest. His friends were still alive.

Ben was going home. And it was time he went home too.

* * *

**So, I hope you guys liked it! I'll try to have the next chapter up next Sunday! Feel free to leave some feedback, just be nice.**


	2. Chapter One: The Lonely Road Home

**So, here's the first chapter!**

**Sorry about the delay, by the way. I've had a really busy weekend. But you'll be glad to know that this chapter is longer than the last. Also, it brings in the first fanfiction elements of the story.**

**I don't own ****_How to Train Your Dragon_**** or any of its characters or creature designs.**

**Anyway, here we go.**

* * *

**Part One: Survivors**

**Chapter One:**

**The Lonely Road Home**

**Somewhere south of Lawrence, Massachusetts**

On the side of a highway, somewhere south of Lawrence, Matt was standing in the cool, morning air. He was a tall eighteen-year-old, about six feet, with hair such a dark shade of brown that it was often mistaken as black. He had brown eyes, and was wearing a striped, red and grey sweatshirt and black athletic pants. His face was covered with a mustache, a beard, and sideburns. There was a time when he had been overweight, but he wasn't anymore.

Seven months had passed since the end of the world.

As he stood on the edge of the road, looking along the deserted highway, the reality of this fact hit him full-on. Only seven months had passed since America had fallen, and the infection had spread to the rest of the world.

It felt like it had been years.

The infection had originated in several top secret government laboratories hidden across America. They had been doing some experiments, including genetic engineering. He didn't know much else except that one of the experiments had produced a deadly pathogen. The pathogen killed its hosts in a matter of hours, and then turned them into zombies by reactivating a certain part of their brains. After death, the transformation would happen in mere minutes, sometimes as quickly as seconds.

For some reason, the pathogen had been shipped to all of the different labs. And somehow, they all escaped at around the same time. One day, everything was fine. The next day, people started to become sick. And the day after that, everything went to hell.

That day, dubbed "Z-Day" by its survivors, would be forever etched in his head. He and his family had been vacationing in Colorado, in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains. They may have been safe had they been there when the violence began. But they had been in the middle of Boulder. He had been forced to watch as some of his loved ones, and countless strangers, were viciously slaughtered right in front of his eyes.

The police tried to intervene, but the undead had the element of surprise. It took them a while to realize that only a blow to the head could kill the zombies. By that time, only half of the police were left, and those that had been killed were starting to rise again. It was discovered then that the pathogen affected dead bodies as well.

Over the next week, the survivors were forced to stay in various shelters and defenses, as the police and the armed forces waged a brutal war against the undead. But no matter how many were killed, they kept coming, and the police were overrun. Two weeks after Z-Day, most of the shelters had been destroyed or abandoned, the police force had been wiped out, and half of America had been lost.

During these two weeks, Matt's friends and family were picked off one by one until only he was left.

One month after Z-Day, what was left of the army made a final stand in Pennsylvania. They were overrun, America fell, and the pathogen escaped to the rest of the world. Matt didn't know what happened after that. He heard rumors from some survivors in Denver about Canada and Mexico falling, but that was it. For all he knew, the world was dead.

Seven months after America fell, the world was a bleak and empty place. Deserted cities lay in ruins, and the few survivors that one met were more often than not paranoid and hostile. For the first month, Matt stayed in Colorado, trying to pull himself together. At the time, he was a nervous wreck. But in the end, he picked up the pieces of his shattered psyche, put them back together, and made his decision.

He was going home.

At the time, he didn't think his friends were still alive. But he wanted to be sure. He told himself one or two of them might have survived. Some of his friends were tough; they could pull through. But the more he thought of it, the less he was convinced. Eventually, his journey became the equivalent to a trip to the morgue to identify a body. Morbid and depressing, yes, but it was the only thing he had left.

Back in the present, he heard a noise behind him. He drew his pistol and turned around, preparing to shoot, but relaxed as he saw it was only his friend Shade.

The black dragon walked out of the rest stop they had barricaded themselves in the previous night. He stretched his legs and wings, and yawned. Then he trotted over to Matt and sat next to him.

"Good morning, Shade," Matt greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

Shade crooned in affirmation.

"That's good," said Matt.

For a while they just stood there, enjoying each other's company and the very fact that they were still alive.

Matt and Shade had met about a month and a half after Matt left Colorado. Two weeks prior, he had found a laboratory in Kansas. Inside the laboratory, he found not only information about the zombie pathogen, but also information on the experiments the lab was doing.

This particular lab had conducted some experiments that were especially interesting to him. They had been trying to genetically engineer dragons. Matt had great interest in dragons, so this discovery had greatly intrigued him. He did some research into it before he left, and found out that the dragons they created were Night Furies, and that during Z-Day, twenty Night Furies had broken out. They were never seen again.

He could barely contain his excitement- but also his disbelief. Night Furies weren't supposed to exist; they were from a movie!

Not two days later, he was proven wrong. He found a Night Fury, or, what was left of one. It had been reduced to a horribly mangled, barely recognizable corpse.

He kept walking. Two weeks later, he met a live one in Missouri.

He came across the Night Fury while he was scavenging for food. The sun was setting, and at first he was unaware of Matt's presence. For a while, the teen just stood off to the side, watching in fascination. He kept his finger on the trigger to be safe, but he knew he would never actually shoot.

The Night Fury in question looked to be a smallish one- smaller than Matt imagined anyway. It was still big enough to be intimidating, however. It was pure black, with bright green eyes, much like Toothless, the Night Fury from _How to Train Your Dragon._ The sun gleamed off of its scales like a gem. It was beautiful.

After a few minutes, the dragon realized it was being watched. It turned around, and, upon seeing Matt, crouched in it attack position, growling ferociously.

Matt just stood there for a few moments, staring at the beast, into its light-green eyes. Then, slowly, he looked back over his shoulders, making sure there were no zombies sneaking up on him. When he was certain the coast was clear, he dropped his gun.

"I mean you no harm, dragon," said Matt, unsure whether he could understand or not.

The Night Fury's expression briefly changed to one of confusion, and then distrust. Matt took a step closer, but the dragon let out another threatening growl.

"Obviously we're not going to get anywhere like this," Matt pointed out. He remembered that Night Furies were supposedly incredibly intelligent. He decided to test that.

"You're supposed to be smart, right?" asked Matt. "Nod your head if you can understand me."

The dragon continued to stare at him for a while. Whether it was deciding whether or not to oblige, or just unable to understand, Matt didn't know.

"Come on," Matt pressured. "Humor me."

The dragon stared for a few more moments, before finally nodding very slowly.

Matt's heart skipped a beat. _This… this is unbelievable! _ He thought. He had a hard time believing that it was actually happening. This had been his dream, but it had been an impossible dream. It was never supposed to come true. But now it was…

"Okay," continued Matt, pulling his emotions together. "That's a good start."

He took another step forward. The dragon growled again, but not as ferociously.

"Why are you so afraid of me?" asked Matt. "There's no weapon in my hand. You could kill me in two seconds if you wanted to. I should be afraid of you."

The dragon looked slightly less threatened, and more perplexed now. It seemed like it was trying to figure Matt out.

Matt was about to say something else, but his thoughts were quickly cut off as something caught his eye. While the dragon's attention was diverted to him, a group of zombies had formed behind it. There were at least fifty of them, and while an alert dragon would probably be able to kill them all, this one was distracted.

And these zombies looked hungry.

"Shit," Matt muttered, and his hand grabbed instinctively for his pistol.

The dragon saw him go for his gun and roared. It backed up, right into the mob of zombies. Taking him by surprise, they grabbed the reptile and pulled him down. They began ripping, tearing, biting at its flesh, forcing it to the ground in the process. Its scales provided some resistance, but not enough. They would break through them soon. It started roaring and thrashing, trying to throw the zombies off, but for every zombie he killed, two more took its place

Matt drew his gun and started firing into the mob, careful not to hit the dragon. Blood sprayed, and zombies fell, but there were so many of them. He kept firing until the clip ran out. He snatched the AK-47 he had dropped and ran towards the zombies. He opened fire, and the zombies were torn apart by bullets. Blood flew everywhere.

The dragon was still thrashing. He killed some zombies himself; clawed their faces, and even bit one's head clean off. The dragon kept fighting and Matt kept shooting until there were only three left. Finally, it had enough room to use its fire. It opened its mouth, and released a blue fireball, which blew all of the zombies to bits.

Matt examined the bodies for a moment, making sure they were all dead. He looked around and made sure there were no stragglers. When he decided it was safe, he ran across the bloodstained ground to the dragon.

The dragon was covered in blood, and wounded very badly, but it was still conscious. It whimpered in pain, and when it saw Matt, it didn't react. Maybe he saw him as an ally now, or maybe he just didn't care anymore.

He knelt down and examined the dragon's body. It was badly hurt; there were gashes, bites, torn flesh, and ripped scales all over his body, blood flowing freely from a lot of them. There were even some wounds were Matt's bullets had accidently grazed it.

He was most concerned about the bites. The pathogen was only spread through bites; more specifically, contact with the blood or saliva of the infected. If you could survive the zombies, and avoid getting bitten or come into contact with their blood, you would be okay.

Matt wasn't sure whether the pathogen was effective on Night Furies or not, but it had him deeply concerned.

"Listen," he said to the dragon. "This is important. Have you been bit before?"

The dragon nodded yes.

"In the last week?"

The scaly beast shook its head.

Maybe they were immune. Or maybe they just took longer to die from it. The dragon had looked healthy when Matt had found it. Malnourished, yes, but otherwise healthy.

He couldn't just leave it like this. He came to a decision.

He took off his backpack and put it on the ground, then rummaged through it, searching for water. When he found a bottle, he opened it and started pouring it over the dragon, washing off the blood and dirt.

"Okay, you've been bit," said Matt. "I don't know if you're immune or not. The evidence suggests that you are, but I'm not completely sold. If you aren't, you're already dead. But if you are, I'm going to help you."

The dragon didn't acknowledge him, but Matt had a feeling that it understood.

He continued to wash off the blood, using as much water as it took. When it was finally gone, he took out his First Aid kit and selected a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

"This is gonna hurt like hell," Matt informed the dragon. "But it's all I've got." He used a cloth to soak some alcohol up, and started cleaning the wounds with it.

The dragon roared in pain, and thrashed around, clawing at Matt instinctively. Matt barely dodged a claw, and stepped back a bit.

"Stop!" he shouted. The dragon didn't listen to him, so he just waited for it to calm down. When he did, Matt said, "I know it hurts. I know. But if you don't let me do this, you'll die." He paused for a moment, and then added, "I'm trying to save your life here. If you don't want my help, you may be able to survive on your own, but only for a few days at most. If you'd like to live to see another year, I'd let me finish."

The dragon stared at him, an expression of resentment on its face. Then, finally, it rested his head down and let Matt continue.

He continued cleaning the dragon's wounds. The reptile grunted and growled, and occasionally roared with pain, but it was evident it was trying to hold it in. Matt tried to distract the beast every once in a while with conversation. One time, he asked, "So… Are you a male?"

The dragon nodded.

"Well, that's helpful. I'd really prefer not to call you an it. You're too intelligent for that."

Finally, Matt was done with the rubbing alcohol on this side of the dragon and started to bandage the wounds up. But the other side had been wounded badly as well. "Can you stand up?" he asked when he was done.

The dragon attempted at getting to its feet. The first time, he fell back down, but the second time he managed to stand up.

"I need to do this side too," Matt explained. "You can lay back down." The dragon laid back on his other side while Matt repeated the cleaning process. When Matt finally finished, he bandaged this side as well.

He took a brief moment to make sure there were no zombies in the area before continuing. Eventually, he ran out of bandages, so he took some extra clothes he had in his backpack and tore them into strips, which he then used instead. Several minutes, and a lot of effort from the dragon later, all of his wounds were bandaged. Matt put the First Aid kit away, and stood up.

"Do you think you can walk?" He asked. "You need to get somewhere safe."

The dragon nodded, but his expression was one of pain.

"Okay," said Matt. "There were some abandoned houses up the road. They're mostly intact. Follow me, but let me know if something's wrong."

Slowly, they made their way to the houses. The dragon limped most of the way, and collapsed a couple of times, but he was able to make it, with Matt helping to support his weight as much as he could.

They found a house that the dragon could get into. Matt searched the house, making sure there were no surprises waiting for them. When he found nothing, he set to work on boarding it up.

The house had two stories. It was dusty, unkempt, and cold from months of abandonment, but otherwise it was a good shelter. The dragon limped into the living room and lay down in front of the fireplace and slipped into a temporary sleep. Meanwhile, Matt found a pile of extra wood in the basement, and used it to board up the windows and create a makeshift latch for the door. When he was done, he brought some more wood upstairs and placed it in the fireplace.

By the time he was done, the dragon had returned from his slumber, and was studying him curiously. Matt had saved him, and he was the only person that could help him now. But he wasn't sure whether it was out of kindness or some other, more sinister motive. He was giving him the benefit of the doubt for now, but he was still keeping an eye on him.

Matt stepped aside and looked at the dragon. "Think you could light this for me?" he asked.

The dragon looked at the fireplace. With a single puff of breath, he shot a burst of flame and lit the logs.

"Thanks." Matt sat down in a chair facing the dragon. "So… I don't really want to just call you Dragon all the time. Do you have a name?"

The dragon shook his head.

"Really?" Matt asked, surprised. "They never gave you a name? That's kind of… mean, actually." He paused, and then asked, "Would you like a name?"

The dragon thought for a moment. Eventually, he shrugged

"Hmmmm…" Matt thought. "I'll see if I can think of something."

He stared blankly into the fire for a minute, deep in thought. It wasn't long until old memories were stirred up in his head; memories of Before. He had been a huge fan of _How to Train Your Dragon _back then; he had often gone on the internet just to talk to other fans. He would role play with these people, and had even created his own dragon character.

_Shade_.

_Yes,_ Matt thought. _Shade_. "How about Shade?" he asked.

The dragon thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Well, I guess that's what I'll call you." Matt stood up and walked over to the dragon, now called Shade. "My name's Matt, by the way. It's nice to meet you, Shade." He reached down to pat him on the head, but he let out a small warning growl.

"I see," said Matt. "You don't trust me, do you?" He sighed, and sat down. "I can't say I blame you. But think about this; if I wanted to kill you, I would've done it already."

Shade thought about this. It made sense to him. But still; he wanted to be safe. He would keep his guard up for a little longer.

By this time, the sun had gone down. Matt realized this, and said, "You should get some sleep. You'll need it. I doubt you'll be able to do much in the next week, and you won't be able to fly for longer," he explained. "I should probably sleep too."

Matt unpacked his sleeping bag from the case he kept slung over his back along with his backpack and laid it out on the couch. Shade slowly scooted away from him, preferring to keep his distance. He didn't trust him yet, and Matt couldn't blame him. But right then, he didn't care. He was with a Night Fury, and that had been his dream.

He fell asleep happy.

* * *

Over the next week, Shade began to become less and less suspicious of Matt. He began to think that maybe Matt was genuinely trying to help. Towards the end, he even started to like him a little bit.

By that time, his wounds were beginning to heal. They were still sore, but the worst of the pain was gone. He still wasn't able to fly, but he could travel now.

"Listen, Shade," Matt said one day. "Tomorrow, I think that you'll be able to leave if you want. But, I don't think that's a good idea. You see," he paused for a moment, trying to find the words. "When you got hurt, I learned that even a dragon needs a friend in this world. People who are alone, be they human, dragon, or whatever, will make mistakes. And those mistakes will kill them if there's nobody around to watch out for them."

Shade thought he knew where this was going. He wasn't sure about it, but he continued listening anyway.

"I think that if the two of us are going to survive, we need to stay together," Matt said. "Think about it."

After a long contemplation, Shade eventually decided to go with Matt. The human had saved his life; and he had made no attempt to hurt him in anyway. And he knew that what he was saying was true; if he continued to wander the country alone, he would die very quickly in his current state. But if he went with Matt, he might actually live.

They left the next day. It turned out Shade was immune to the pathogen after all, and over the next few months, they became closer, and they were more than just partners- they became best friends. They were all each other had left. They became fiercely protective over each other, and would even die for each other.

And now here they were, in Lawrence. Matt could barely hold it together; after six months of traveling, he was almost home. Finally, he would know if his friends were alive. The dream he had had the night before had renewed his hope in finding them, and also added a sense of urgency to their journey for him.

But they weren't there yet.

* * *

After a while of just sitting there, Matt realized he was hungry. "You want some breakfast?" he asked Shade.

Shade nodded, and followed him as he went inside the rest stop. He rummaged through his backpack, and pulled out some meat. "This is all we have left," he observed. "We'll have to find some more in the city."

They lit a fire and began roasting the meat. "How about some music?" Matt suggested. He always kept his iPod charged when he could find a source of electricity, and he always had fresh batteries for his iHome when he could find them. It had been one of the only things that kept him sane before he met Shade, and he kept up with the habit afterwards.

Shade nodded. He loved music. Over that first week, Matt had played it a lot, and Shade had taken a quick liking to it.

Matt put his iPod on shuffle and started playing it while they cooked their food. The dark melodies of Avenged Sevenfold's "Buried Alive" filled the room, along with the crackling of the fire, and the smell of meat.

When the food was done, they sat there and ate. For that small moment in time, with good food, good music, and good company, they could almost forget that the world around them was dead.

Almost.

During this time, Matt took the opportunity to mention his dream. "I had the strangest nightmare last night…" Shade pricked his ears in curiosity, as Matt explained what had happened.

"I don't know… it sounds crazy," said Matt. "I mean, Ben meeting up with Trent? Come on. But something about it seemed so _real…_ I don't know."

When they were done, they extinguished the fire, and cleaned up after themselves. They left no trace that they were ever there. Matt wondered briefly if he would ever be here again, but quickly dismissed it. It wasn't important. All that was important now was surviving, and getting home. He slung his huge, black survival backpack over his back, followed by his AK-47. Then, he and Shade stepped out the door.

As they were leaving, Shade grunted. Matt turned around, and saw Shade with his wings spread open. He wanted to fly.

"Look buddy, I told you, you can't fly for another week," he said. "I'm sorry, but if you reopen that cut, you'll have to wait another month to fly again."

To tell the truth, Shade was rather accident prone at times. A few weeks prior, while he was flying, he was distracted for a moment, and got in a particularly nasty crash, leaving a huge gash in his left wing. He was lucky to be alive. Matt had stitched him up, but even now he was still unable to fly.

Shade looked disappointed, but he understood.

They set off down the highway. Man and dragon, two best friends, making their way on the lonely road home.

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**Looking back, I don't really like how these old chapters are written, and I feel I'm a much better writer now. However, I still like revisiting the beginning of this story.**

**Anyway, that's all for this week. I'll try to have a new one on time next Sunday. In the meantime, feel free to leave a review! I love to hear feedback; just be respectful about it.**


	3. Chapter Two: End of Days

**I'm SOOOO sorry I missed the deadline again. Once more, I've had a busy week. But here it is, Chapter Two. And I promise I'll actually try to get the deadline of Sunday right this week.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ****_How to Train Your Dragon_**** or Night Furies.**

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**Chapter Two**

**End of Days**

**Lawrence, Massachusetts**

They reached Lawrence sometime in the afternoon.

Matt and Shade entered the city, prepared for an attack at any moment. It wasn't likely; however, they had to be ready. Those who let their guard down were always the first to die.

Their number one priority was to find food. They found a grocery store near the city limit, with no visible zombies lingering around it. Slowly approaching the entrance, Matt drew his pistol, keeping watch for zombies. He carefully opened the door, held his gun ahead of him, and peered through.

The coast was clear.

He opened the door fully and looked around. The various aisles were obstructing his view, but for now it seemed that they were alone.

He lowered his gun, but didn't holster it, and stepped inside to allow Shade to enter. Closing the door behind them, they started walking down one of the aisles.

The problem one faced when looking for food nowadays was that most of it was either spoiled, or already taken. There were usually certain sections that hadn't been touched much by scavengers, but the more time that passed, the smaller those sections were. Sometimes there weren't any at all.

Despite this, Matt was determined to find something. Anything perishable was out of the question; those had gone bad months ago. Also, the refrigerators no longer worked, so that section was no good either.

They walked through the aisle and found nothing. Matt turned to Shade and said, "We could go left or right, Shade. What do you think?"

Shade sniffed around on the ground for a few moments, than turned to face Matt. He gestured with his head to the right, and started walking. Matt followed.

Using his Night Fury senses, Shade sniffed out what they were looking for. There was still a whole aisle full of unspoiled food. It was mostly snack food, but it would do the job nonetheless. Matt took off his backpack, opened it, and started stuffing it. Shade kept guard; making sure no surprise guests decided to pay them a visit.

When his backpack was three-fourths full, Matt stopped. They had enough to at least get them through the next few days, and they needed some space in their bag for water as well. They were close to running low.

Despite the months that had passed, the water bottles were still good to drink, so long as the seals on them weren't broken. They found the drinks section, and Matt filled the remainder of the backpack. Now, there was only one thing left to do.

After Z-Day, some stores had remained open for a few days as sanctuaries for survivors to rest in before being transported to the refuges. During this short period of time, the employees had started carrying weapons. A lot of people died at their jobs, and they left their guns and ammo behind. There were often some stored in the management office. More ammo meant more survival. After water and food, it was the most important thing someone could have: even more important than shelter.

Matt hadn't seen anything that looked like a management office when they came in, so he assumed that it was located in the back of the store. He and Shade made their way there, the whole time remaining completely alert. When they found the management office, Matt opened the door slowly, and entered in the same manner he did the front entrance.

This time was different, however. This time, something was waiting for him.

He heard a moaning sound, and saw a zombie. He immediately aimed the gun at it. The once-man, now hideously-deformed-monster stood up slowly and stared at him. As soon as it took a step forward, Matt pulled the trigger. The bullet entered its head between its eyes, spraying the wall behind him with blood and cranial matter. It fell to the ground with a dull _thump_.

Matt leaned over its body and examined it. Judging by the uniform it was wearing, it was the former manager of the store. "Think he's dead?" he asked Shade.

Shade nodded.

"Yeah," Matt agreed. "Me too."

He entered the office, and walked over to the manager's desk, carefully stepping over the corpse he had made. He opened drawer after drawer. Office supplies, papers, folders, files, nothing useful. Finally, however, he opened a drawer with a brand new .44 magnum and three packs of ammo.

"Sweet," Matt remarked, storing the gun on his belt and emptying the ammo into the pouch he carried on his side. "Been a while since I used one of these."

He was about to leave, when he noticed the radio. He liked to check radios when he saw them, to see if any stations were still broadcasting. One time, he found a signal from a traveling radio station run by a group of survivors. He never met them, but he took some comfort in knowing that someone else was alive.

He turned on the radio and was greeted by the harsh sounds of static. He turned the knob, checking all of the stations. He was about to give up when he briefly passed what sounded like a voice.

Quickly, he tuned back. He was greeted by a voice, from the sound of it a young man talking.

"_…in Lawrence, Massachusetts, today, and let me say this, it sure is a fine day. The sun shining, the streets empty, the bloody bodies everywhere- yep, a great day. Feels good to be home."_

Matt froze.

That voice. He knew that voice.

_"It was only eighteen years ago when I was born in the hospital here. Man, the time flies. This place has changed a lot. For example, back then, cannibalism was considered 'weird.'_

_"Anyway, I've got a good story for you all. First of all, stay away from the southwest part of the city; that's were Trent and I came in, and there are a lot of hungry zombies down there. We tried running a bunch of them over, but somehow one of them popped my tires, so we had to stop. It might have been the knife in his chest, but who knows right? I got out and distracted them, while Trent went to go find a spare. While he was gone, I picked up about thirty hungry zombies who all thought I looked delicious, so I started running a circle. But then I realized- this isn't _Call of Duty_. So I got to my car, and pulled out my new toy- a minigun. And I shot them all down. Most fun I've had all week."_

Matt just sat there, listening for a while. Ten minutes later, the broadcast ended, and his suspicions were confirmed.

_"Well, that's all for today. Now, more music. I hope you enjoy it. If you don't, too bad. This is Ben Chretien, End of Days radio, signing off."_

Matt couldn't believe it.

Ben was not only alive, but he was in Lawrence at that very moment. And he had mentioned Trent…

He realized with a jolt that his dream had come true.

"Shade… That's Ben… and Trent… they're here! My dream was real!" he couldn't contain his excitement. "Oh my god…"

Suddenly, he felt an overpowering need to get outside. He stood up and walked quickly to the door, opening it, and ran towards the front of the store. Shade followed behind him. He burst out of the front door and looked around.

_Where are you? _Matt thought. He looked around, and before he even knew what he was doing, he did the single dumbest thing he had done in a long time.

He opened his mouth, and yelled Ben's name as loud as he could, hoping Ben would hear him.

Silence. Or, better yet, the sound of Matt's stupidity hitting him.

"Shit," he muttered. "I'm so _stupid!_"

Zombies were attracted to two things; loud noises, and fresh blood.

To make things worse, it just so happened that the grocery store was pretty much on the border of the southwestern side of Lawrence, which, as he had just discovered from Ben's broadcast, was teeming with zombies.

Matt drew his magnum and loaded it. "I'm sorry, Shade," He said. "Get ready."

Shade said nothing, only looked around, waiting for zombies to come.

For a minute, nothing happened. Matt was beginning to feel hopeful. Maybe they hadn't heard him. But his hopes were immediately diminished as he saw a group of twenty or so zombies stumbling towards him from the south.

Matt pointed at them with his magnum, holding it with his right hand, and shot. The intense recoil took him by surprise, and he was thrown off balance, causing the bullet to go wide. Then, from somewhere higher up, he heard several loud clangs of metal striking metal. For just a split second, he heard it coming, before his left leg was concealed in a cloud of blood and pain.

"FUCK!" he screamed, falling to his knees. Had he really just shot his own leg? Embarrassment now added itself to the mixed feelings of pain, fear, and adrenaline. His mind felt like it was going to short circuit.

Behind him, he heard Shade roar in shock. A flash of purple fire flew over him, and the zombies exploded in a rain of blood and flaming body parts. One more blast wiped out the survivors.

Matt let out another scream of pain. Tears of rage and agony formed in his eyes. He had been wounded before, but he had never been shot. It hurt like hell.

Shade stood above him, whimpering and nudging him with his head. Matt reached out with his hand. Shade bowed his head down, allowing Matt to get a handhold. Matt tried to pick himself up in this way, but as soon as he was up he collapsed again. Shade quickly maneuvered himself under Matt, folding his wings tightly against his body, and Matt landed on him.

"Thanks," said Matt. Using Shade as a support, he stood up, and was able to stand. "We need to find somewhere safe so I can patch this up. I'm losing blood."

Shade laid down, allowing Matt easy access to his back. He climbed on top of the Night Fury and held on tight. Shade stood up and started walking down the street.

"Thanks," Matt whispered into his ear.

Blood began to drip off of his leg, and onto the ground. Matt squeezed it, to try to cut of the blood flow, but a few drops still slipped between his fingers.

They found shelter in a small, two-story house. Matt reached over and opened the front door, and Shade managed to squeeze through into a room. There, he sat down, allowing Matt to slide off of his back. Matt crawled over to a couch and sat against it, taking out his First Aid kit.

His leg was covered in blood, and he had lost a lot on the street. They wouldn't be able to leave the house for a while.

Further examination told him the wound wasn't quite as bad as it looked; it hurt like hell, but the bullet had only grazed him. It cut deep, but thankfully it missed the bone, and it was beginning to clot.

"Shade," he said. "Do you think you could see if there are any towels lying around?"

Shade nodded and walked off. He came back a few minutes later carrying a large bathroom towel in his mouth.

"Thanks," Matt said. He took the towel and began to wipe the blood off of his leg. When it was clean, he poured some rubbing alcohol in it, causing his leg to sting even more.

Holding in a cry of pain, Matt muttered, "Remind me to get some new cleaning stuff. This sucks."

Shade nodded in agreement, remembering what had happened when they first met.

When the pain subsided a little, Matt asked, "Hey, Shade, could you go around and make sure there are no zombies in here?"

Shade nodded and left the room again.

When he was done cleaning his wound, he patched it up with bandages. He then looked around for something to use as support. There was fireplace a few feet away. Next to it was a poker. _Better than nothing_, Matt thought. _I can at least use it as a weapon too, if necessary_.

Shade returned a few minutes later. "Anything?" Matt asked. Shade shook his head.

"Okay." Matt got to his feet, using the poker as support. He stumbled a bit, still weak from the pain and the blood loss, but eventually got his balance. He limped over to the window and looked out.

The street was already filling with zombies.

"Looks like we're in a little bit of trouble," Matt observed. He turned to face Shade. "Well, I was going to say we do a little bit of hunting, but…" He gestured at the window. "…I don't think that's going to happen. So, now we need to find a way to patch these windows and doors up."

Shade nodded in agreement, and they both went to look for materials.

The basement was always the place to find wood. They got lucky, and found just enough to board up all of the windows on the first floor. After about an hour, they had finished. Matt struggled a little bit, but Shade gave him support when he had to use two hands.

When they were all done, they gathered some extra wood, and Shade lit a fire. Matt made a dinner out of canned products and snack foods. It wasn't the best, but it was enough. Matt decided it was too risky to play music, like he usually did, so they ate in silence.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Shade," said Matt. "I acted like a complete idiot. I let my emotions control me. And I don't even know what happened with the gun; I think I forgot how much recoil it had. I… I'm really sorry."

Shade looked at him, forgiveness in his eyes. He nudged Matt's head in affection.

When night arrived, they completely ignored the bedroom upstairs. Upstairs was possibly the worst place to be, as there was no escape from there if they got cornered. Instead, Matt took out a sleeping bag and slept on the couch. Shade curled up on the floor next to him, letting his wing drape over Matt, providing him with warmth and protection. They were approaching the beginning of winter, and it got awfully cold at night. Sometimes the sleeping bag wasn't enough. Shade, on the other hand, was almost never cold, and gave out body heat like a furnace.

"We'll see what we can do about those zombies tomorrow," Matt proposed. "And we'll see if we can find Ben anywhere…" He closed his eyes, and said, "Goodnight, Shade." Then, he slipped away into sleep.

* * *

**Well, I hoped you liked it. Next Sunday, things get a bit more interesting.**

**Feel free to leave a review! Just be respectful.**


	4. Chapter Three: Against the Wall

**Well, here we go! Chapter Three! I would have had it up a bit earlier, but the Oscars are on and I was spending the entire day getting chores and work done so I could watch them.**

**Anyway, in this chapter, things get a little bit more interesting.**

**Again, I don't own HTTYD or Night Furies.**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**Against The Wall**

**Lawrence, Massachusetts**

Matt was dreaming.

He was walking through a seemingly-deserted city. He was calling out names, names he forgot as soon as he yelled them. He felt eyes on him, but he couldn't see their owners. He kept walking, and calling, but received no answers.

A zombie appeared at the intersection ahead. Matt stopped, and reached for his gun, but it wasn't there. He stood still, his heart pounding, holding his breath. The zombie saw him alright, but it didn't move. More zombies, all over the street, wandered out of their hiding places, but not one of them attacked.

Matt turned slowly, looking at all of them. He started walking away, slowly at first, than picking up speed. Still, the zombies didn't give chase. He was now as confused as he was frightened. He started to run.

He turned the corner, and more zombies were there. Just like the last ones, they didn't move. They just stared.

A noise came from behind him. He turned around sharply, just in time to see a shadowy figure run into an alley.

"Who's there?" Matt called.

No response.

Matt walked into the alley, and saw the figure run into a building. Without thinking, he followed it.

The first thing he saw was an elevator. The doors shut as he entered the room, but not in time to prevent him from catching a glimpse of the figure inside. Suddenly, without the slightest ounce of evidence, Matt knew it was heading for the roof.

He ran to the stairwell, desperate to beat them. The building was fifteen stories high, but somehow he made it without running out of breath.

When he reached the roof he saw nobody at first. He walked towards the edge and looked out over the city. Suddenly, he felt someone tapping his shoulder.

He turned around and the figure was there. For some reason, Matt couldn't focus in on any part of its body, except its face. And that wasn't much; it was concealed. The only thing he could see was its eyes.

The figure pointed behind him. Matt turned around, and gasped in shock.

The entire city was on fire.

The flames were hot and hungry. They devoured everything in sight, sparing nothing except for the building Matt was standing on.

Across the street was a much taller building. A loud, cracking sound came from it, and it collapsed on itself. On the street below, burning metal and debris fell everywhere. The noise was deafening. It barely missed them.

Matt watched this scene in horror. His body was telling him to run, to get out of there as soon as possible, but his legs were frozen.

Suddenly, from somewhere in the city, there was an ear-splittingly loud roar. A wall of fire appeared, and rushed towards him, incinerating everything in its path.

Matt turned around to run, but ran into the figure behind him, his face colliding with theirs. Somewhere, a man screamed in pain, and then there was blackness.

He woke with a start, gasping, and was greeted by Shade's face. He was standing over Matt, an expression of alarm on his face. It wasn't until Matt caught his breath that he heard the screaming from his dream.

It was coming from outside their window. Shade glanced at the window, and then back to Matt, indicating that this was something he needed to see.

Matt quickly got out of his sleeping bag, grabbed the fire poker, and limped over to the window. As he looked out through the hole between the boards they had put up (which was specifically designed for watching and shooting), his blood ran cold at what he saw.

The morning sun illuminated a terrifying scene of bloodshed. A man was lying in the middle of the street, screaming as a small group of zombies tore into him. He was holding a knife, but seemed unable to summon the strength to use it.

"We have to do something," Matt said. He grabbed his pistol and limped to the door as quickly as he could. He unbarred it (they had put a piece of wood over it to serve as a door bar) and stepped outside, firing a clip into the zombies. The loud noise didn't matter; the man's screams and blood would have already set off the alarm.

They all dropped to the ground.

Matt hurried over to the man and knelt beside him. He had slick black hair of about medium length, and slightly tan skin. He was wearing a white, blood-soaked t-shirt and tan cargo pants. He was still alive, but not for long. His brown eyes swam with terror. His blood was everywhere, and he had deep, gaping wounds where the zombies had ravaged him. His stomach was open, and his entrails lay strewn around him.

"Help… me…" the man whispered weakly.

Matt stared in horror. He couldn't move; could barely think. No matter how many times he saw this, it never got easier; especially not when it was so sudden.

"Help…" the man whispered again. His head dropped to the ground, and he died.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Matt said. He turned around and vomited.

For a minute, they stood there in a grim silence. And then, Matt noticed them. Walking down the street, on all sides, were zombies. There must have been at least a hundred, easily. And they were all coming towards them.

Matt backed towards the house and drew his M9 Pistol. "Come on," he said. "We need to get back inside."

Inside was not the best place for them now. Unfortunately, it was their only choice. The only other option would be to stay outside, and that would be suicide. At least inside, they had a small amount of protection.

They entered the house as quickly as they could, and barred the door. "Keep watch out back, Shade. Roar if any are coming from behind."

The dragon nodded, and walked towards the back of the house, disappearing from sight.

Matt looked through the hole. The zombies were approaching the house, and were almost to the lawn. There were so many of them… He had never seen this many in one place before.

Matt pulled back the hammer of his pistol, and aimed at the nearest zombie. He waited for a clear shot, and then fired. The window shattered, and the zombie's head exploded in a cloud of blood. It went down, but there were many, many more.

He shot zombie after zombie, but every time one went down, it seemed like two more stepped up to take its place. The far end of the lawn was now stained red, and bodies lay strewn about, but still the zombies kept coming.

Matt was able to keep them back for a few minutes, but every few seconds, they got a little closer. Every time he had to reload, he wasted precious time, and they got closer. Now they were halfway across the yard, and he could no longer hold them back. Those furthest to his right and left were beginning to leave his field of vision, and once they were gone, they would get in. It would take a while, but they would eventually break through their barricades.

Matt was about to switch to his AK-47. He had wanted to save as much ammo in that as he could, but he was running out of options. At that moment, however, Shade roared.

"Shit!" Matt exclaimed. He gave up on the front; there was no way they could defend it now. The zombies were going to get in, and the only thing they could do now was fight them inside.

He grabbed his backpack and ran to Shade. He looked out the window next to the reptile and saw a sizable group of zombies shambling towards the house. It wasn't nearly as big as the group out front, but it was steadily growing.

"There's nothing we can do to stop it," said Matt. "We have to fall back… The stairs might be our only option. If we get pushed up to the second floor, we might still be able to escape. Come on!"

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Lawrence, Ben and Trent were having a much better day.

For starters, they were actually having fun. They were sitting outside of an abandoned restaurant, drinking high-quality, whipped cream-flavored vodka, and shooting zombies across the street. They were having an unofficial "contest" to see who could get the best kills.

Trent raised his gun and shot across the street. The bullet ricocheted off of a stop sign, and hit a zombie right in the head.

"Nice!" Ben observed. He gave Trent a high five. "Now it's my turn."

He raised his gun, and shot at another zombie. The bullet went through its head, out the other side, and into another.

"Two fuckers, one stone," he said

Trent chuckled. "Watch and learn, my friend." He shot again, shooting three zombies in the head.

"Oh yeah?" Ben challenged. "I can beat that right now."

He fired his gun at a second story balcony with a large crate on it. He hit the latch that held the supports of the balcony in place, but it wasn't enough. He shot the other side, and it came lose. The balcony fell forward, and the crate slipped off and landed on a zombie with a sickening crunch. Blood splattered everywhere, and Ben and Trent laughed.

"That was pretty awesome," Trent remarked.

"I can top that, I think… But it'd mean we'd have to leave," Trent said.

"Oh well, anything better than that I want to see, even if it means this game is over for today," Ben replied.

"Okay," Trent said. He started to take aim, but before he could, Ben interrupted.

"I just noticed… There's an awful lot of zombies around here today."

Trent frowned, perplexed. "Yeah… You're right. And now that you mention it, they're all heading in the same direction."

It was true; all the zombies seemed to be heading in a southeasterly direction.

"Let's head that way when we leave," Ben suggested. "I kinda wanna see why they're going that way."

"Okay," Trent agreed. "But first, my turn."

He raised his gun and fired at a car. The shot was perfect; it hit the car right in the exhaust pipe, and it exploded with a deafening bang. Fire spewed everywhere, and all the zombie too close to it were killed instantly.

Ben was in hysterics. "That," he said between laughs, "Was amazing."

"Yeah," said Trent. "Now let's get the hell out of here."

But as Ben calmed down, something else popped into his head. "Wait a minute," he said. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean?" Trent asked, feigning ignorance.

"Hold on," Ben replied. He walked over to the car and examined the wreckage. He found the remnants of C4 lying next to it.

"Trent," said Ben, feigning disgust. "You are a lying, cheating prick."

A loud, crunching noise came from the front of the house.

"That sounded like the door," Matt said to Shade, who was squeezed behind him. They were making a stand in the hallway at the bottom of the staircase. "Get ready Shade, they're coming."

Unfortunately, his scaled friend wouldn't be able to help here. He didn't dare risk using his fire in such tight quarters.

About a minute later, the first zombie rounded the corner into the hallway. Matt shot it on sight, but it was immediately replaced by another.

He shot and shot, and zombies kept falling, but more kept coming. The hallway soon became clogged with blood, bodies, and the stench of death. But the zombies were still gaining ground.

Matt decided enough was enough. He put away his pistol and pulled out his AK-47. Without so much as a millisecond of hesitation, he opened fire, and bullets sprayed into the hallway. The walls were painted scarlet, and the mound of bodies on the ground grew higher- but somehow, they still kept coming.

By this time a mound of bodies on the floor had risen to block half of the hallway. The zombies were forced to climb over them, making them easy prey for Matt's bullets. But they would still overrun him eventually; even if he could hold them off, he would run out of ammo at some point. And they might not all be dead when that happened. He didn't want to take the chance.

He shot all of the zombies he could see over the mound, and then lowered his gun. "Come on, Shade," he said urgently. "We need to get upstairs. Let's see if we can get out one of those windows."

Shade backed up the stairs, going slowly, his scales scratching up the walls as he was just barely able to slide past. The hallway was too thin for him, and while he could get through, it was an effort. While he struggled, Matt held off the zombies that were climbing over the mound.

Shade finally made it upstairs and into the bedroom. Matt shot one more zombie, paused to reload the last of his pistol ammo and ran upstairs. The two entered a bedroom. It contained a single bed, a closet, a dresser, and a bookshelf full of dusty, used books. On the other side of the room, there were two windows.

"We've got to hurry," Matt said. "I've only got six shots left in this."

They ran over to the window and looked out. All hopes of an easy escape vanished as they viewed the biggest zombie horde they'd ever seen surrounding.

"We're not getting out of this that easily," Matt predicted.

They met each other's eyes. An unspoken message passed between them, and Matt backed up to the doorway. Shade backed to the other side of the room and crouched. He opened his mouth, and a shot of fire developed in his throat. But before he was able to shoot it, a zombie grabbed Matt from behind.

He let out a startled yell. Shade instinctively swallowed up the shot he was producing and whipped his head back. Matt struggled to keep the zombie's teeth from piercing his neck, and they fell to the ground. Shade roared in a combination of rage and terror.

Matt and the zombie writhed on the floor. Matt rolled over so that he was facing the zombie and pushed its head away, at the same time reaching for his gun. But before he could get it, they rolled over again and the zombie was on top of him. It was then that Shade took his cue. He ran up and brought his claws down on the zombie's back and neck, raking them down the length of its body. Blood squirted from the wounds the dragon inflicted. He bit the zombie in the back and picked him up without any effort at all. With merely a toss of his head, he sent the zombie flying down the hallway. Matt scrambled for his gun and sent three shots at the zombie.

They struck home. The zombie died, and Matt scrambled for his poker, but was greeted by three more zombies. He shot all three of them, and grabbed the poker.

As quickly as he could, he stood up, leaning on the poker. More zombies were making their way up the stairs. Realizing his pistol was now out of ammo, Matt took off his backpack and reached in. He rummaged around and pulled out a hand grenade.

"I was saving this for a special occasion!" he yelled to Shade. "I think this counts!"

He pulled the pin and threw the grenade down the stairs. A few seconds later, an explosion rocked through the house. Zombies were thrown into the air or blown up where they stood. Unfortunately, the ones at the top of the stairs were spared. Matt took out his magnum, braced himself for the recoil, and fired at all of them.

He was prepared this time, and his aim was true. The zombies fell.

Without wasting a single second, he zipped his backpack shut, scooped it up, and ran into the room, slamming the door behind him.

While he was reloading, he said to Shade, "Come on, before they get through the door. Let's get out of here."

Shade faced the window again, and this time he succeeded in shooting a burst of fire at the wall. It exploded outward. Without even giving him a chance to respond, Shade lunged at Matt, scooped him up in his forelegs, and flapped his wings, flying out of the opening. But they didn't make it far. Shade's wing hadn't healed enough, and Matt was weighing him down too much.

They landed in the middle of the street in a patch of road where there were no zombies. Shade let Matt go and he tumbled forward. "Ouch," he said. When he stood up, he quickly followed it with, "Thanks."

Their relief was short-lived, however. On all sides of them, more zombies were closing in.

"Shade, however many shots you have left, now would be a great time to use them," Matt said, struggling to keep from panicking.

Shade raised his head at the house, and fired a shot of flame at it. The side of the house exploded, fire and wood raining on the zombies below, and the floor of the bedroom collapsed.

He fired another shot at the crowd of zombies below the house. They exploded, but there were still a lot of them.

"Don't worry about them, we need to leave!" Matt exclaimed.

Shade turned around, extending his wing slightly to shield Matt from the fire. He kept turning, and firing in different directions, keeping his human pressed against his side so he wouldn't get burned. Some of the zombies were getting awfully close.

After a few more shots, Shade attempted one more, but all that came out was sparks. He was out.

"Watch out, Shade," Matt warned. He opened fire, shooting zombies in every direction. They fell, but just like before, there were so many of them. Matt had never seen so many zombies before.

After a few minutes, his AK-47 ran out of ammo. The zombies were still coming. He pulled out his magnum and started firing that. But he was beginning to realize that they probably wouldn't be able to get out of this alive.

"I think this is the end, Shade," he said, his voice full of regret.

Shade looked at him, and gave a whimper, his gaze full of sadness.

Matt stopped shooting for a moment, and met his eyes. He patted his friend on the snout. "Goodbye, Shade," he said, his voice and eyes dripping with sadness.

Ben and Trent were following the zombies down the streets of Lawrence.

"This is freaking me out," said Trent.

Ben said nothing, but he agreed. He had never seen zombies act like this. Every single one that they saw was being drawn in the same direction.

"Where are they going?" Ben wondered aloud.

Trent shook his head. "I don't know. But something's telling me this is a bad idea."

"You just blew up a car in the middle of a city full of zombies purely for the fun of it," Ben remarked. "This is nothing."

"I guess… But still, I don't trust this."

"This doesn't trust you."

"What the hell kind of comeback was that?"

"I dunno."

They kept driving. Eventually, they turned a corner and saw what the zombies were going to.

"Holy hell!" Trent exclaimed.

There were hordes of zombies in the middle of the street, and there were so many that it seemed like all the zombies in the city were gathered in this one spot. To the side, a house was on fire. In the middle, there was a gap in the horde, and a young man was standing there shooting at the zombies. With him was a-

Ben braked, and shut his eyes for a moment, reflecting on what he had just seen. He opened his eyes, and it was still there.

"Holy balls," he breathed. "Trent… It might just be the shrooms I had a while ago… But I think there's a dragon in front of us. Then again, you look like a hippo, so… I could be wrong…"

In the middle of the street was what appeared to be a living, breathing Night Fury.

"Well I'll be dipped in shit," Trent commented. "So they are real."

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked.

"Do you remember how I told you a couple of weeks ago that some of the experiments escaped from the labs?"

"That's one of them, isn't it?" Ben guessed.

"Yep," said Trent. "And it looks like it's in trouble. What d'ya say we do something about it?"

Ben grinned. "We've got that little contraption you set up last week. Want to finally put it to the test?"

Trent smiled. "Let's do it."

The zombies were almost there, and Matt was out of ammo.

"Here we go, buddy," he said to Shade. "Give it everything you've got." He slashed out with his poker, stabbing and slashing at everything that moved. Shade followed suit with his teeth and claws.

The gap was getting smaller and smaller and the zombies were getting closer and closer. Matt was about ready to give up the little hope he had left, when he heard the sound of machine gun fire.

He looked towards the source of the sound just in time to see the zombies disappear in a wave of blood. They dropped left and right,

When all the zombies in front and to the side were dead, a Dodge Viper pulled up a few yards in front of them. An African-american man of about average height, with short, brown hair, tattoos, and somewhat muscular arms was firing a mounted machine gun that extended from the back of the car. He was wearing a red sweatshirt and blue jeans. In the driver's seat was a man of about eighteen years, Matt's own age. He had short, curly brown hair and pale skin and wore glasses and a grey sweatshirt.

He opened his mouth to say something, than stopped. He recognized them. He saw recognition on the face of the driver as well.

It was Ben.

* * *

**Well, what did you think of that? Let me know in the reviews! Just please don't flame. Thanks.**

**Anyway, another chapter next Sunday!**


	5. Chapter Four: Reunion

**Sorry again for the delay, I had to work most of the day yesterday and it sucked. Anyway, I formatted the next chapter, and here it is! I remember my goal while going into this was to give Shade, a character who didn't have enough personality, more of it. I like to think I succeeded. You tell me if I did or not.**

**Anyway, it's weird for me going back and reading these. It's funny to think how far the story has progressed since I wrote this (about two years and seventy chapters ago). With everything that's happened in the story since this (seriously, where I am right now, the story is about twenty times more complex than it was in these early chapters), and all the characters that have come and gone, it's weird to think that there was once only four of them hanging out in Lawrence. **

**But anyway, enough reminiscing. You've earned your next chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**Reunion**

**Lawrence, Massachusetts**

"Ben," Matt said, dumbfounded.

"Well, I'll be damned," said Ben. "Looks like you're alive after all. I'd ask you what the hell is going on, but truthfully, I'm not sure I want to know."

Shade gave a warning growl. Behind them, the zombies that hadn't been killed were closing in.

"Look," said Trent, whom Matt recognized from his dream. "I can see that you two know each other, but let's save the hugs and kisses for later. Right now, we need to get our asses out of here. The zombies will be flocking to this place even faster now."

Shade grunted in agreement.

"Right," said Matt. "There's one small problem. Shade here won't fit in the car."

Ben thought for a moment. "Well, I assume if he was in any condition to fly, you'd have done so.

"No, he can fly," Matt said sarcastically. "We were just thinking it would be fun to be torn to pieces and eaten."

"So like a masochistic prostitute?"

Matt and Shade stared at him, not even beginning to know how to respond.

"Well, can he at least run?" asked Trent.

Matt looked at Shade, who nodded.

"Yeah, he can run."

"Okay," said Ben. "Our shelter isn't too far from here. Think you can keep up?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem," Matt replied.

"Okay," Trent remarked. "Let's start now, before those zombies get a chance to grab you."

Matt turned around, and saw the zombies dangerously close to him. He backed up a few paces in fright, and then quickly mounted Shade's back. Shade trotted over to the car.

"We're ready," Matt said.

"Alright, just don't fall behind," Ben instructed. He hit the gas and drove off.

Shade ran behind them. They stayed within three yards of the Viper for as much of the trip as they could. Eventually, they came to an old, abandoned apartment building. Ben pulled the emergency brake, drifted into a parking space, and got out.

Shade stopped next to them, and Matt slid off of his back. He steadied himself with the fire poker.

"Before we go inside, I need to ask something," Ben announced. "What kind of wound is that?" He gestured at Matt's leg.

"Oh, that," Matt chuckled. "Don't worry about that. I wasn't bit; I was shot."

"By who?" Ben asked.

"It's a long story. Maybe one I'll tell you."

"Alright," Ben said, convinced. "But if you start getting sick on me, I'm going to shoot you, okay?"

"Understandable."

"Nothing personal, I just can't take any chances."

Trent walked over to them. "Let's talk inside. We need to get out of the open before we attract… unwanted attention."

"Yeah," Ben agreed. "This way."

He led them to a door with the number 69 carved into a spot on the wall next to it where an engraved number had used to hang. He took out a key, unlocked the door, and let them in.

"Will he be able to get in?" Ben asked, pointing to Shade.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. He's had practice doing this. You may get a few cracks in the doorframe, but you'll still have a door."

"Okay," Ben said, and entered the house. Matt and Trent followed, and after about a minute of squeezing later, Shade entered as well.

Ben shut the door, and gave them an official welcome. "Well, this is home. For now. It's not much, but it'll do."

The door opened into a living room. It was dusty, and had two couches and a table in it, as well as a hardwood floor. On the table were a number of battery powered technological devices, including a laptop and a radio transmitter. The apartment also had a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom.

"Is that how you run your radio station?" Matt asked.

"Yeah," Ben said, surprised. "How'd you know about that?"

"I heard it yesterday."

"It was pretty funny, actually."

"So isn't your face."

"So, Ben," said Trent, changing the subject. "Care to introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh, my bad," said Ben. "Trent, this is Matt, my friend from Before. Matt, this is Trent, my partner in zombie-murdering."

Matt and Trent shook hands. "You're Trent, aren't you?" Matt asked.

"Yep," said Trent. "That's me."

"What gave it away, the eyes or the tattoos?" asked Ben sarcastically.

"That's pretty freaking awesome," said Matt, ignoring Ben's question. "I love your music."

"Thanks," said Trent.

"So, now that you two are acquainted, how about you introduce us to your… friend," Ben suggested.

"Alright," Matt replied. "Ben, Trent, this is Shade. Shade, this is Ben and Trent."

Shade smiled in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Shade," said Trent.

"What he said," said Ben.

"Alright then," said Trent. "Make yourselves at home." He then left the room, saying "I'm going to get something to eat. All that mass-murdering made me hungry."

"Before we do anything, you need new clothes," said Ben. "You can borrow some of mine if you want. They might be a little tight, but it's better than nothing."

Matt looked down at his clothes. They were torn and stained red from the blood of zombies.

"God damn it!" Matt exclaimed. "This was a new sweatshirt!"

"Dude, you've had that since Freshmen Year," Ben recalled. "Are you high or something? Or are you just suffering from shock?"

"No, I had one that looked just like it, but it was a different one. And I'm not high."

"Whatever man. Just go ask Trent for some clothes. I'm way too lazy to do it right now."

Matt punched Ben in the arm and walked after Trent. As he was walking, Ben landed a punch on his back.

"Ow! Dick."

Ben laughed.

Matt left the room, leaving Ben and Shade alone.

Ben stared at Shade. "This is nuts," he said. "So not only do I find out that one of my best friends from Before is still alive, but that he's got a real Night Fury tagging along with him? Did Trent spike my vodka earlier, or something?"

Shade knew that humans didn't believe dragons existed, so he understood Ben's surprise. He shook his head, smirking.

"So you _can_ understand me," Ben said. "I thought so. I wasn't completely sure. So, how did you two meet, anyway?"

Shade thought for a moment. He wanted to answer Ben's question, but he wasn't sure how. Then, an idea came to him.

He laid down on all fours, on a bare patch of hardwood flooring. With his claw, he started carving a picture in the floor.

Ben was surprised by this. He wasn't expecting Shade to be able to draw. It seemed he was underestimating his intelligence.

Matt entered the room while Shade was drawing. "I got some clothes Ben," he said. He saw Shade drawing, and Ben watching, and said, "Looks like the two of you've been bonding."

"I asked Shade how you two met, and he started drawing," Ben explained.

"Yeah, he tends to do that. Since, you know, he can't talk. That, and he likes drawing."

Shade finished his drawing. It was a scene depicting Matt saving him from the zombies.

"So, he saved you from zombies?" Ben asked. "How'd you get attacked by zombies in the first place? Couldn't you have just lit them on fire?"

Shade's ear flaps flattened in mock annoyance. He flicked Ben with his tail.

"What the hell was that for?" Ben asked.

Matt laughed. "Truth is, it's kind of my fault. He saw me as a threat, and was distracted."

"Oh, I see. Douche."

"Hey, if I hadn't done that, he might not be alive right now," Matt explained. "We wouldn't have become partners, and nobody survives on their own. They might be able to for weeks, months, even years, but eventually, they'll make a mistake."

"Whatever, douchebag," Ben retorted.

Matt showed him his middle finger.

Shade was laughing, in his weird, low-pitched dragon-laugh. "What are you laughing at?" Matt asked. "Go back to your drawings."

Shade flicked him with his tail as well.

Trent walked in just then, eating a sandwich. "Well, now that we're all here," he began, "We owe each other stories. But first, some music." He pressed a button on the laptop, and the catchy verses of Green Day's "East Jesus Nowhere" filled the room. Shade started tapping his claw to the beat.

"It's been too long," said Ben. "Where the hell have you been this whole time?"

"Well… I was in Colorado on Z-Day. I stayed there for two months afterwards, and then made my way back home," Matt explained. "Me and Shade met in Missouri. We would've been here sooner, but he had an accident while he was flying. It tore his wing pretty badly. The external damage is healed for the most part, but it's still all screwed up inside; he can't fly with any weight for very long."

"How the hell did he crash that badly?" asked Trent.

"Well… He's a bit of a daredevil, to be honest. When we fly, he occasionally does some insanely reckless stunt. And one of those times, it didn't go over well."

"Ouch," said Ben.

Shade extended his left wing, revealing a faint scar that came from the result of the crash. It ran all the way down his wing, and branched off into smaller scars.

"Holy shit," said Trent. "God damn, that must've hurt."

"Yeah, and I was riding on him at the time. It would've killed me, but he absorbed enough of the blow."

Shade glared at him.

"Well it's true!"

Ben and Trent laughed.

"So, what have you been doing?" asked Matt.

"Well, I've been wandering, you know, doing this and that," Ben replied. "I killed zombies a lot."

"I, on the other hand, have actually been trying to accomplish something," said Trent.

"And what would that be?" asked Matt.

"Well," Trent began. "What if I told you I was getting close to potentially discovering a way to wipe the zombies off the face of the Earth?"

Shade's ears pricked up in interest.

"Are… Are you really?" Matt asked.

"Well, I'm not sure if it'll be there, but I found evidence pointing to somewhere in New Hampshire that may or may not have a way to do that," Trent explained. "And, seeing as I've got nothing better to do, I decided I'd check it out. I met Ben in Chicago, where I also found that information. He decided to tag along."

"Which brings us to today, and the big question," Ben stated. "What were you doing today? How the fuck did you attract so many zombies?"

"I have no idea," Matt replied. "I mean, there was bound to be some. I accidently shot myself yesterday…" he gestured to his bullet wound, and Ben laughed. "Shut up," Matt retorted. "Anyway, I left a trail of fresh blood. And this morning, I shot a couple of zombies who were eating some poor fellow alive. That was going to attract a good-sized horde, but that…" Matt trailed off, trying to find the words in his head. "That was the biggest horde I've ever seen."

Trent shook his head in confusion. "Every single zombie we saw was heading in your direction," he recalled. "It's like they were acting as a group. I've never, ever seen them act that way before."

"The question is why were they acting like that?" Ben asked.

"I don't know," Trent replied. "But it's very disturbing."

The mood in the room suddenly turned very grim. Even Ben had a sullen look on his face.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," said Matt. "Let's have some good times, while we still can."

"What do you mean, while we still can?" Ben asked. "Can you see the future or something?"

"No, I'm just saying," Matt replied. "What if we all die tomorrow? It's possible! I mean, the world might even be over everywhere!"

Ben shrugged. "You have a point there."

"What do you guys know about the rest of the world anyway?" Matt asked.

"I heard rumors," said Ben. "Some of the last news we got before New Hampshire was overrun was that the pathogen crossed the ocean. That, combined with the fact that we haven't even seen any evidence of an outside world- not even a plane crossing over the country- makes me think that they're gone for good."

"Wow…" said Matt. "That sucks. A lot."

"Yeah…"

Matt changed the subject. "So, what brings you guys here?" he thought he knew, but wanted to hear it from them.

"Well, Ben and I are going to New Hampshire," Trent replied. "You're welcome to join us if you want to. Both of you."

"I'd love to," Matt replied. "On the condition that we stop in Harristown, Norbury, Gunnerville, and Lyndrich."

"What's there?" asked Trent.

"Home," said Matt. "I want to go home one last time. It's where I've been heading since the beginning. And I want to see if anyone else is alive."

"Why not?" Ben replied.

"Sounds good to me," said Trent.

"What do you think, Shade?" Matt asked.

Shade shrugged. He was starting to space out; he was tracing random lines in the floor with his claw, while tapping another one to the music, which had changed to "Diamond Eyes" by Shinedown.

"I love this song," Matt commented.

"Yeah," Ben agreed. "Remember when we went to see these guys live?"

"That was possibly one of the funnest concert experiences of my life," Matt remembered.

"Yeah…" Ben agreed.

"Hey, I'm feeling left out here," Trent joked.

"Sorry," Matt chuckled. "We saw you too, remember."

"So," Ben changed the subject. "What's your Z-Day story?"

Matt preferred not to think about Z-Day. He had seen some horrible things. His family, the bloodshed, and-

_You shouldn't dwell on that,_ his mind told him. _It's done; there's nothing you can do now._

"I don't really want to talk about it," Matt said, sullenly.

"Okay," said Ben.

"You can share your story if you want, though."

"Well," Ben dug through his memory. "It happened really fast. It started in school; everything was normal. Then, out of nowhere, we had a lockdown. I assumed it was just another drill, but it wasn't. I was in engineering at the time, and some crazy person- we later found out it was a zombie- started trying to break through the window. People started screaming, not just in our class but everywhere. Before we knew it, zombies broke through the door and started attacking us." Ben broke off here. The next few memories were rather painful ones. "They… they ripped the teacher apart right in front of us, and several classmates too. Me and a couple of others started throwing chairs and shit at them. We tried to escape, but I was the only one who made it.

"I have no idea who else survived, or where they went. I was with Anthony for a bit but he disappeared. I went home, but found my family dead. So I went to one of those shelters for a while, trying to find out if any of our friends were alive. I never heard from one of them. When New Hampshire finally fell- which wasn't for a while; we were one of the last to fall- I stayed for a couple weeks, trying to find someone. I couldn't find anyone. So I left.

"While I was in the shelter, they blocked off New Hampshire from all the other states. And they did it very well. It was a pain in the ass to get out, but I eventually did."

As Matt was listening to this, something popped into his head. He remembered that before Z-Day, Ben had had a girlfriend; Katie. _Where is she now?_ He asked. _Is she dead?_

"What happened to Katie?" he asked.

Ben's face immediately turned even bleaker. He looked to the ground, and said, "She… She died. I don't really like to talk about it."

There was silence for a bit. Trent eventually broke it. "That was a horrible day. All of us lost most of what was dear to them. Me, they took all of my friends. They killed my wife and my daughter. Even my band mates were massacred. Not a day goes by where it doesn't hurt. But I've learned to move on." His eyes started to water.

"I'm sorry," Matt said. He meant it.

"It's okay," said Trent, blinking back the tears. "I'm not the only one. And besides; as long as I'm alive, and still looking for a cure, then they haven't died in vain."

About an hour later, they were back out. While canned goods were okay, some of the best survival food came from fresh meat, and they needed more of that. For Ben and Trent, it would be a particularly interesting trip. They were about to see how dragons hunted.

Matt, Ben, and Trent kept several yards back. Shade led the way, sniffing, searching for prey. The dragon wasn't sure what to think about the newcomers. His first instinct was distrust; he didn't trust strange humans. But Matt trusted them, and Shade trusted Matt, and even though he didn't trust him as far as he could throw them- which actually wasn't saying much, since he could probably throw them very far- they weren't that bad.

He focused on the task at hand. It was getting harder to hunt; prey was becoming more and more scarce. He didn't know whether it was the zombies or the impending winter, but it was happening all the same.

_And those idiots back there aren't helping_, he thought, annoyed. Behind him, the three humans were making a lot of noise, talking and laughing. He turned his head back, let out a short, yet loud growl and snapped his tail. They got the message, and shut up.

_This would be so much easier if I could fly_. He missed flying, and longed to be able to spread his wings and take to the sky again. Looking back, what he had done was stupid. _No_, he corrected himself. _It was completely idiotic. What was I thinking?_ But he hadn't _been_ thinking; that was the problem. He enjoyed doing stunts in the air; it was a rare moment of fun in a bleak world. But that last one had crossed a line.

He caught a scent. It was a deer. It was far off, but it was definitely there. Hopefully it was alive.

He crouched in his stalking position and crept forward. From the smell of it, his prey was beyond the hill that lay up ahead. If he moved any faster, he would startle it.

"So, what exactly did he do, anyway?" Trent asked behind him.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"How did he get that scar?"

_Oh you've got to be kidding me_.

"I told you; he did a stupid stunt."

"What did he do, flip a few times too close to the ground?" Ben asked.

"No… He kinda… Tried to fly through a barn… Upside down…"

Ben and Trent roared with laughter.

"Come on guys, it's not that funny! I was almost killed! And it ripped his wing almost clean off!" Matt protested.

"Come on, you know it's funny," said Ben.

_Okay, that's it._

Shade turned around and shot a bolt of fire only a yard in front of them. They jumped back, startled. He glared at them, and then continued.

"I think he wants us to shut up," Ben whispered.

"No shit, Sherlock," Matt replied.

They shut up after that. Shade was starting to get angry, but he remained calm. The deer was still there. He could smell it. Once he got to the top of the hill, he could go for it. If those idiots kept quiet, that is.

He reached the top of the hill. On the other side was a field, and standing in the middle was not one but two deer. A buck and a doe. They were scrawny, but they would do. He crouched at the top of the hill, watching. They didn't notice him. He motioned with his tail for the three humans to come. They quickly- but quietly, thank God- covered the distance between them and stood by his side. Ben tried to move forward a little, but Shade pressed his tail against his chest, warning him to stay back.

He slowly took a few more paces forward, and then decided he was close enough. He jumped forward and flapped his wings a few times.

In a matter of seconds, he crossed the distance from the hill to the buck and landed on it, forcing it to the ground headfirst and snapping its neck. The doe tried to run, but Shade was faster. He caught up to it in seconds, and killed it with a swift bite to the neck.

He collected his prey in his mouth, and trotted back to meet the humans. He placed it on the ground in front of them, and sat back on his hind legs.

"That was pretty awesome," said Ben.

"Thanks," said Shade, although all the humans could hear was a short warble.

Sometimes he wished they could understand him.

They loaded the dead deer into the trunk of Ben's Viper. When they were done, they bent over to wipe the blood of the deer off of their hands onto the grass.

"That's just lovely," said Trent

"Yeah," said Ben. He looked down and saw a bloodstain on his shirt. "Oh what the hell!"

Matt and Trent started laughing.

"Hey, Matt, next time we go hunting, tell Puff the Magic Dragon over here to make less of a mess."

Before he could say another word, Shade tackled him. "What the fuck?!" he yelled, startled. He squirmed out of Shade's grip, and started running, but Shade out sped him and tackled him again.

It continued like this for some time. Matt and Trent stood on the sidelines, laughing their asses off.

"Do you think we should help him?" asked Trent.

"Nah, Shade's just goofing around. Besides, this is hilarious," Matt replied.

"Alright. Hey, just out of curiosity, does Shade know that he was… You know… Genetically engineered?"

Matt frowned. "I honestly don't know. I never brought it up because I didn't want to cause him pain… I'm not sure if he would react negatively, but I don't want to take the chance, you know?"

Trent shook his head. "You know you're going to have to tell him at some point, right?"

"Yeah," said Matt. "I'm not looking forward to it."

A few minutes later, Shade got bored and let Ben go. "What the hell?!" he yelled. "Why didn't you guys help?"

"Because we were busy," Trent replied.

"Busy doing what, laughing?"

"Maybe."

"Asses!" Ben gave them both the finger.

Late that night, the four of them were sitting around a fire inside the apartment, eating roasted deer, drinking beer (except Matt and Shade, who settled for water), and listening to "A Prophecy" by Asking Alexandria.

"You know what I would love to do again, just one more time?" Matt asked.

"What?" asked Ben, who was drunk.

"I would want to go see a concert, one more time," Matt answered.

"I wish I could play at a concert," Trent added.

"We went to one of your concerts once."

"Yeah, Ben told me."

"Hell yeah I did," said Ben. "Hold on a minute, I have to take a piss." He got out and stumbled out of the room.

Trent leaned over and looked through the door. "Ben! That's the sink, not the toilet! And shut the damn door!"

"Shit, sorry 'bout that!" Ben called back.

Matt looked at Shade. "You see Shade? This is why alcohol is bad." He took a sip of his beer.

Shade stared at him, his expression one of smug disapproval.

"What? I'm a hypocrite. Sue me."

Ben came stumbling back in. He tried to sit down, but tripped and landed on Shade. "Sorry!" he yelled.

Shade shook him off and he landed on the floor.

"Ow!" he yelled.

"Ben, how much have you had to drink?" Matt asked.

"A whole shitload!" Ben exclaimed.

"Jesus Christ!" Trent exclaimed. "I didn't even think we _had _that much!"

"...Okay…"

There was an awkward silence. "Hehe, awkward silence," said Ben giddily.

"Ben, you need to go to bed," said Trent. "And I do too. I'm exhausted."

"What's bed?" Ben asked.

Trent poured a bottle of water over the fire, extinguishing it. Then, he turned the music off.

"Ahhhhhhh, fucker."

"Love you too," Trent replied. "Hey, Matt. For some reason, there's no mattress on the bed in the bedroom, so do you want the couch? I'll sleep on the floor if you want."

"No, it's fine," Matt replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay." Trent pulled a sleeping bag out from next to one of the couches and unrolled it. He then got inside.

Ben flopped onto the other couch. "Goodnight every… one…" He fell asleep into a drunken slumber.

Matt went into his backpack, which he had stored under the table earlier. He pulled out his sleeping bag and unrolled it on the floor. He got into it, and Shade curled up next to him, letting his wing drape over him.

"Goodnight Trent," he said.

"Goodnight," Trent replied. "Tomorrow, we're going to New Hampshire."

"Sweet." A feeling of excitement bloomed in his chest. "Goodnight Ben."

No response.

"Goodnight Shade."

Shade let out a tired grunt.

Matt lay there in the dark, his thoughts wandering, thinking about the day, and about what would happen the next day. Eventually, sleep came, and he dreamed into the night.

* * *

**So, let me know what you think! Next Sunday, they're going to New Hampshire!**


	6. Chapter Five: The Wall

**So, a fair bit of warning, this chapter gets rather ridiculous. I do think it's a lot of fun, though. Anyway, I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or Night Furies.**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**The Wall**

**Haverhill, Massachusetts**

The two vehicles sped through the empty, ruined streets of Haverhill. In front were Ben and Trent in their Viper, blasting Green Day's "Armatage Shanks" as loud as humanly possible. Behind them, in a large, silver Ford 4X4 that they had hotwired were Matt and Shade. Matt was driving, while Shade was riding in the bed with the window separating them left open.

Matt was tapping his fingers on the wheel to "The Judas Kiss" by Metallica, and thinking back to the conversation that had occurred earlier that morning. Matt had been able to replenish his ammo from Ben and Trent's store, and they had talked about how they would get into New Hampshire.

The defenses protecting New Hampshire were better than most states. Not only had New Hampshire been one of the last states to fall, but the government had seemed to take special interest in protecting it. Trent saw this as further evidence that what he was looking for was in New Hampshire.

After doing some research, Trent found some information on the wall in the flash drive he had recovered from Chicago. Most states hadn't been able to build a wall. Those that had built crude, easily penetrable barriers. Only a select few had built a wall like New Hampshire's; D.C. and Pennsylvania were the only others. Every architect and construction worker in New Hampshire- and many in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, and even Canada- that had survived Z-Day had been commissioned to build the wall. The blueprints had been created at some time before Z-Day, possibly due to the pathogen's very existence. For a three week job, it was extremely well-built. And several traps, in the event of a breach, had been built on the inside. Not all of them were electronically powered, and those that were could hold a charge for years.

Unfortunately, that was the route they would have to take. The outside of the wall had been made impossible to scale, and Shade was in no condition to fly over it.

The flash drive said nothing about what traps they would have to face, and while the wall wasn't much thicker than the average school hallway, the path from one door to the other was long. They would have to be extremely careful.

Ahead of them, Trent- who wasn't trusting Ben with the wheel- was pulling over at a gas station. Matt followed them; he pulled to a stop, killed the engine, and got out of the car. Shade hopped out of the back and followed him.

"What's up?" He asked Ben, who was keeping watch.

"My head hurts, and Trent needs gas," Ben replied.

"Well that's your own fault. And alright, I should probably get some too."

"Okay, I'll keep watch here. Not that I have a choice."

"Okay." Matt walked over to the pumps, where Trent was syphoning fuel. Matt bent over to do the same

"Why are we getting gas anyway?" Matt asked. "We can't get the cars through the wall."

"Shhh!" Trent exclaimed. "Don't remind Ben! He's suffering enough as is."

"What do you mean?"

"He loves that car like it's his child. And if you must know, I was thinking the same thing earlier, but the wall is on the complete other side of the city, and we're about to run out. There's no guarantee that we'll get past the wall alive, and if I'm going to die today, I'd like to have as much luxury as possible beforehand."

"Alright," said Matt. "And if the need arises, fuller gas tanks explode better."

Trent grinned at him. "Exactly."

Ben, overhearing the conversation, yelled "You're not blowing up _my_ car, bitches!"

He got the generator hooked up and began filling a container with gas. When he was done, Matt followed suit. When the cars were all fueled up, they got back in, and drove off.

The wall was like nothing Matt had ever seen.

It was three stories tall, and stretched on as far as Matt could see. The sides were as smooth as glass, yet as hard as steel. They wouldn't be getting through easily.

"Alright," said Matt, breaking the ice. "Are we all ready?"

"Hold on a minute," said Ben. "I need a moment to say goodbye."

"Oh give me a break," Matt muttered under his breath.

"It's all good," said Trent. "Go ahead."

Shade rolled his eyes.

Ben walked over to his car and hugged the front. Or, at least, he attempted to. "Bye," he said. "I'll miss you."

After a minute of this, Trent said, "Time to go."

"No, wait a minute," Ben protested.

"No, come on," said Trent, prying Ben away from the Viper.

Ben resisted at first, but eventually gave in. Trent led him to the wall, and Matt and Shade followed.

"There should be a door around here somewhere…" he said.

Shade walked over to a certain spot in the wall and sniffed it. He looked up and gestured with his head towards the spot.

"Looks like he found it," Matt observed. They walked over to Shade and saw the door.

"Thanks," said Trent. He patted Shade on the head.

"Yeah, but there's one small problem," said Matt. "How the hell are we going to open it?"

There was no handle on the door. Instead, there was an electronic lock with a keypad to the side.

"The power's out," said Ben. "So that means it's unlocked. We just need to get it ajar somehow. But that thing's in there pretty tight."

"Hmmm…" said Matt. "That's a- hey, what the hell?!"

Shade had bitten the collar of his shirt and picked him up. He carried him a few yards away and set him back down.

"What the hell was that for?" Matt protested. He attempted to walk back over to the door, but Shade blocked him with his tail. Matt realized that Shade wanted him to keep back. He turned around and flicked his tail for the others to do the same.

Ben and Trent walked over and waited, wondering what Shade was going to do.

He shot a bolt of fire at the door, and the resulting impact did absolutely nothing in terms of damage. It merely left a giant black smear. But, it did something else; the resulting impact jarred the door open slightly.

"Sweet," said Ben. The three of them ran over to the door, and pried it open. It was difficult, but with their combined strength they were able to accomplish the task. They could see nothing inside but blackness.

"Anyone got a flashlight?" Matt asked. Trent pulled one out and switched it on, shining it through the door.

The wall was more than big enough for Shade to fit into. Trent picked up a rock and threw it in, testing for any traps. Nothing happened.

The three of them stepped inside. Behind them, Shade squeezed through the door (which was much thinner than the actual wall) grunting in annoyance.

"So, what now?" asked Ben.

"Now, we move forward. Being very careful, that is," Trent replied.

To their right was nothing but a wall. To their left was a hallway that stretched into blackness.

Trent shut the door behind them, and the only source of light was the flashlight. Everything else was pitch black.

"Well," he said. "Who's going first?"

Shade took the lead. He could take a hit far better than any of them, and was more alert to danger. The rest of them stayed several paces behind, walking silently.

It was Ben who broke the silence. "They built this thing in three weeks?" he asked, incredulous.

"They were literally working twenty-four hours a day," said Trent. They _really_ didn't want anything getting through this. Even now, seven months later, with no living person to guard it, it will still do its job if we're not careful."

"Why here?" Ben asked. "Why New Hampshire?"

"There's obviously something here they wanted to protect," Trent replied. "And this would be one of the last states you'd expect."

After a few more moments of silence, Matt, who was keeping a firm grip on his pistol, said, "This place creeps me out. How far have we walked, anyway?"

"A mile, maybe," said Trent.

"Do you have any idea when we'll find the way out?" Matt asked.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, there should be another wall on the other side. Once we get there, there'll be a door somewhere. That's all the flash drive said about it; I have no idea how much further it is. And there are still the traps to get through."

"We've been walking for a while, and there have been no traps," said Ben. "Are you sure they're here?"

"Oh, they're here all right. Give it time."

"I don't wanna give it time."

"Too bad."

Suddenly, Shade stopped up ahead. He growled at them to stay put, opening his wings slightly at the same time. He inched his head forward a little bit, sniffing.

"I think we found them," said Trent. "God help us."

Shade took a step forward. When his paw touched the floor, a panel of it sank in rapidly, and two short tubes stuck out of the wall.

Matt had just enough time to yell, "Shade! Get back!" before flames shot out of the tubes. Shade was completely engulfed.

"No! Shade!" Trent yelled.

"GOD DAMN IT! MY HEAD!" Ben screamed, clutching his head in agony.

Matt could only stand there watching. His heart pounded as he waited nervously for the flames to clear. It seemed like hours, but in reality it couldn't have been more than thirty seconds before they finally did.

Shade was perfectly fine. A little shaken up, but otherwise fine. The tubes retreated into the wall.

"What the-" said Ben. "How the _hell_ did he survive that?"

"He's a dragon," said Matt. "He's impervious to fire. On the outside, anyway."

Shade spat a spark out of his mouth, and took another step forward. The floor panels sunk in again, and the fire returned.

"Well, that's just great!" Ben yelled.

"Peachy," Trent agreed.

"I'm getting the feeling there's more where that came from, too," said Matt.

The fire cleared up again, and Shade continued walking across the floor. Each step he took over the course of five steps generated more fire. After that, it was safe again. Or so it seemed.

Shade kept going. "Shade! What are you doing?" Matt yelled after him.

He looked back, and gestured onward with his head.

"I think he's scouting ahead for us," said Trent.

"Be careful!" Matt yelled.

Shade flicked his tail in acknowledgement.

Suddenly, there was a clicking noise. Shade paused for just a moment, then took off at full speed. Right where he had just been, several turrets came out of the wall and fired, not really aiming at anything. The bullets seemed to be going everywhere. Shade was just fast enough to avoid them, but had he waited one more second, he probably would've been killed. After a few seconds, the turrets disappeared, but Shade's troubles had just begun.

A laser appeared, slicing up and down from floor to ceiling at an alarmingly fast rate. One had merely seconds to pass through it before they would be chopped in half. Shade, being the large Night Fury he was, had even less time.

He stood there, waiting, deciding when it was time to make a move. Matt realized he was holding his breath. "Come on," he urged Shade, quietly. "Come on, you can make it."

Shade made his move. He jumped through the laser and landed on the other side. He let out a roar of pain; the laser had cut him. But he didn't stop; couldn't stop. As soon as he got past the lasers, a giant blade fell from one of the walls, slicing down. He had only a second to make it through, but he did. After that, he disappeared from sight.

They could still hear the sounds. A loud, electric buzzing sound echoed down the pathway, and then the sound of metal grating against metal, followed by a loud _thwang_. Finally, there was another, louder grating and a shriek of terror. They heard loud, scratching noises, and then silence.

"Shade!" Matt called. "Shade, are you okay?"

For a while, there was no reply. "Shade," Matt said, quietly this time, fearing the worst.

"Matt…" said Trent. "I'm sorry, but-"

He was cut off by a roar in the distance. It was Shade, and it was not a roar of pain, or terror, but of triumph, followed by an explosion of fire some ways down the hallway.

Matt let out a sigh of relief, followed by a chuckle. "He made it."

"Jesus Christ," said Trent.

"_He_ made it," said Ben. "But what about us?"

Matt remembered that it was now their turn and his blood ran cold. _We're next_, he thought.

Next to him, Trent was rummaging through his backpack. He pulled out two more flashlights. "Take these," he said, handing them to Matt and Ben. "I'm taking this one with me, and I don't want you to be left in the dark. You'd probably die. I'm not sure the extent of what I'm about to face, but I have an idea, and if I survive, I'll tell you."

"Good luck, man," said Ben. "I'll see you on the other side, hopefully."

Trent reached into his pocket and pulled out the flash drive to give to Ben. "Just in case I don't make it, take this. Finish the job for me."

"Okay," said Ben.

Trent nodded, and waved. "See you later." He ran into the trap, and disappeared from sight behind a wave of fire.

After a few seconds, he yelled, "Holy shit! That was messed up!" When the fire cleared away, they saw him standing beyond it, unhurt. "There's a small safe area here! After this, it's all traps!"

He ran as fast as he could through the turrets. One of the bullets almost hit him, but he made it through unscathed. Then, there was the laser. He dived through it without even hesitating, and landed on his stomach. He crawled under the giant blade, and disappeared from sight, with nothing but a beam of light to acknowledge he was still there.

The sounds that they had heard earlier came again. After the loud grating noise, they heard Trent yell in fright, and the light disappeared. Immediately after, they heard a loud roard and a flap of wings.

"Trent!" Ben yelled. "What happened?"

There was silence for a moment. Then, from the blackness, Trent yelled, "Shade just saved my life, that's what happened! I lost my flashlight though! Try not to do that! Who's next?"

Ben stepped back. "You first," he said.

Matt punched him in the arm. "Ass," he said. "I'm coming, Trent!"

"Alright!" Trent replied. "After the blade, where Shade disappeared from sight, there are three more traps! The first is several large saw blades rising from the floor! They're easy, but don't let your guard down! They can still kill you! Just jump over them!"

"Okay!" Matt replied. "What's after that?"

Very faintly, he heard Trent talking to Shade. After a few moments, he replied, "Well, there's a bunch of spears that fall from the ceiling! All you need to do is run as fast as you can, but then it gets tricky! The third trap is immediately after it, and that's the one that almost killed me! If it wasn't for Shade, it would've!

"The floor in front of you will open up, and there will be a pit of spikes! If you stay, the spears will get you! If you keep running, you'll fall, and I don't know if Shade can pull another rescue like that, what with his wing and all! So you'll have to jump as far as you can! Shade should be able to catch you- it's not too big, just big enough so that an average human won't be able to reach the other side in time to catch it!"

"How do you know he'll be able to catch me?" Matt asked.

"I don't! Not for sure, anyway! But you trust him, don't you?"

Matt thought about it. "Yeah! I trust Shade with my life!"

"Well then I wouldn't worry about it too much!"

Matt took a few moments to gather his wits. When he was ready, he yelled, "Okay! I'm coming!"

He started running. Overnight, the pain from his gunshot wound had diminished a little. But he was still limping, and the poker made it a bit harder to be agile. Waves of pain rose from his leg, but he ignored them. He could feel the floor panels sinking beneath his feet, and could feel the heat from the fire right behind him, searing his back, and his neck. And then, he was through. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath.

"I made it past the fire!" he yelled.

"You're doing great so far!" Trent encouraged.

"You know, I would say that you just went out of the frying pan and into the fire, but I think that's actually the opposite of what just happened!" Ben yelled.

Matt stood there for a moment, readying himself for the real thing. When he was ready, and the pain from his leg had slightly retreated, he took off running.

The clicking noise appeared, but he kept running. The turrets appeared and shot their bullets, but Matt evaded them, although they came frighteningly close. He kept running. The laser appeared, and Matt dove under it, earning a sharp pang of agony from his leg. He slid past it and under the blade that came swinging down, coming within centimeters of his backpack. Holding on to his flashlight, he quickly got to his feet and continued.

The saw blades were next. They started from the wall and made their way towards the center. Matt jumped over them, barely missing them, but missing them all the same. When he landed, his leg almost gave in, and he stumbled, but he gritted his teeth, ignored the pain, and kept running.

The light from his flashlight revealed Trent's face, and glinted off of Shade's black scales and green eyes, several yards ahead of him. Matt kept running. The spears came down from the ceiling and smashed into the floor right behind him. Almost as soon as this happened, the floor in front of him started separating. In the beam of the flashlight, he barely had time to process the glint of spikes in the pit below, and the image of Shade readying himself to catch him, before he jumped.

He screamed. The pit below grew wider, and while he was hanging midair, it stopped. He was flying over it; for a second it looked like he would reach the other side, but then he fell. He braced himself for an impact, but just before he hit fell into the pit, he felt teeth clench his backpack and pull him up. Shade set him down on the floor next to Trent.

Matt knelt down, gasping for breath, and waiting for the pain from his leg to subside. When it did, he stood up, and hugged Shade's neck, rubbing his smooth black scales. "Thank you," he said.

But it wasn't quite over yet. Ben still had to cross.

"Ben! Matt made it! It's your turn!" Trent yelled.

"Oh, yay!" Ben replied sarcastically. "There's nothing like running Jigsaw's favorite obstacle course!"

"Did you hear what I said to Matt, or do you need me to repeat it?" Trent asked.

"Nah, I'm good! Shade, you better catch me, or I swear-"

"What're you gonna do?" Matt asked. "Bleed on him?"

Silence for a moment. Then, "Shut up!"

Matt laughed.

"You coming, Ben?" Trent asked.

"Yeah, hold on one second!" A few moments of silence. "I'm coming now!"

"Okay! You better not lose that flash drive!"

"I won't!" Ben yelled.

A few seconds later, the fire started.

Matt waited nervously. When the fire stopped, Ben yelled, "This is such a bad idea!"

"No shit!" Matt yelled. "Do you think we're doing this because we have a choice?"

"I didn't sign up for this shit," Ben muttered.

"Why are you so surprised?" Matt asked. "Didn't you already come through here?"

"I didn't go through the wall!" Ben replied. "I took an airplane and flew over it!"

Matt looked at Trent. "Is he serious?"

"I think so," Trent replied.

"Why didn't we just do that?" Matt asked.

"Where are we going to get an airplane?"

"Boston!"

"Oh… right," said Trent. "Oh well. Too late now. Ben! Are you coming or what?" he yelled.

"Yeah! Just a second!"

"Hurry up please! I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible!" Matt yelled.

"Alright! I'm coming!"

"Get ready Shade," said Matt.

Shade readied himself as Ben started running.

Ben made it through the turrets, the laser, and the blade. He entered the beam of Matt's flashlight, and the saw blades appeared. He jumped, but slightly too low. The saw blade nicked his shoe, cutting his foot, and he fell to the ground.

"Shit!" Trent and Ben yelled in unison.

Ben started crawling as fast as he could. The spears came down, and they struck on either side of his foot, as the floor started opening.

"Oh fuck me!" Ben yelled.

The floor opened all the way, and he fell in. Anticipating this, he flipped himself over and grabbed the top of the pit, holding on, but dropping his flashlight.

"Shit!" he yelled in terror. "Help me!"

Shade glanced at Matt, making eye contact. His eyes darted from Matt to his hind leg, and back, and then he looked away. He started to ease himself out over the pit.

Matt understood what he wanted. He grabbed on to Shade's hind leg, keeping him from losing his balance. "Trent! Hold his other leg!"

Trent ran to the other side and held onto Shade's other leg. Shade eased himself out, and then leaned forward. When his hind legs were on the edge, and his front legs were forced between them, he lunged for Ben.

Matt almost lost his grip on Shade's leg, but managed to hold on. Shade attempted to grab Ben's backpack, but missed. He fell into the pit, roaring, and Trent and Matt held on for both their lives and Shade's.

"Ben!" Matt yelled. "Reach for him!"

Shade pushed against the wall of the pit, and swung upward towards Ben again. He tried to grab his backpack, but missed again.

"Ben!" Trent yelled. "God damn it, reach for him!"

Ben was too frightened to reply. He managed to nod, however.

Shade swung for Ben again. This time, Ben was prepared, and swung one of his arms to meet Shade's. He grabbed the dragon's paw, and Shade grabbed him as much as a dragon could grab something. The two of them almost formed a bridge across the pit.

"Now what?" Ben asked, his voice shaking with fear.

"Let go, and hold on for dear life!" Matt yelled.

"Are you crazy?" Ben yelled.

"Probably! But you have to trust us!"

Ben hesitated for a moment, thinking. Then he said, "Shade, you better hold on to me, or I will haunt you for the rest of your life!"

The Night Fury nodded.

Ben braced himself, then let go of the side.

Shade fell back into the pit, this time taking Ben with him. Ben held onto his leg with both arms, screaming. He smashed into the wall, but managed to hold on.

"Ow," he said. He looked down. "Oh God, get me out of here please! I'm way too close to these spikes!"

"Okay!" Matt yelled. "Use his spines and climb up his back!"

Ben reached up with one of his arms and grabbed onto Shade's ear flaps. He pulled himself up and grabbed one of the dragon's spines. Shade grunted in pain, but endured it.

Ben continued pulling himself up. Eventually, he made it to the top of the pit and jumped onto the ground next to Matt.

"Alright Shade," said Matt. "We're gonna pull you up now. Ben, grab his tail and pull."

The three of them pulled, and Shade attempted to push against the wall of the pit to help them. "Shade, you need to lose a few pounds," Trent grunted.

Shade ignored him and continued to push himself up. When he was close enough to the top, he pushed with his front legs and climbed back over the top of the pit. Matt, Ben, and Trent let go, and collapsed to the ground, catching their breath.

"Well, we made it," Matt commented.

"Shade, I think you're my new best friend," said Ben. "Thanks."

Shade let out a warble, which Matt assumed to mean, "You're welcome." He sat down and started washing off Ben's blood, which had dripped from the cut in his foot onto him.

"Ben, you're cut," said Matt. "You okay?"

"I think so," said Ben. He took off his shoe. "That shoe's destroyed, but the cut's nothing but a scratch."

"Shade, what about you?"

Shade looked at him questioningly. Then he remembered, and looked at his tail. Matt examined it, and saw a slight, charred cut from the laser. It wasn't really anything major, but it did look painful.

"We'll take care of that when we get out of here, okay?"

Shade nodded. He was just grateful that nobody had died.

"Why is all this here, anyway?" Matt asked. "Why didn't they just not put doors in?"

"They wanted people to be able to get through," said Trent. "But only the people they wanted. If there was still electricity, putting the right combination into the keypad would not only unlock the door, but disengage the traps as well. It wasn't until New Hampshire fell that the electricity was cut off completely, and rendered it impossible for anyone to get throughit without running into these."

"At this point, I don't care anymore," said Ben. "I just want to get out. Are there any more traps?"

"I don't know," said Trent. "Guess there's only one way to find out."

Ben groaned. "God damn it," he said.

Shade took the lead again. The others walked in silence behind him.

After they walked another mile or so, Shade stopped. He let out a warning growl.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Matt complained.

"Wait a minute," said Trent. "Shine your light as far down the hallway as you can."

Matt shined the light further, and what they saw instantly brightened the mood.

It was a wall.

"Are we finally at the end?" Ben asked. "I've had it with this place, I need out!"

"Wait," said Matt. "Something's not right."

Shade was tense. He was staring at the floor, his ears were flattened against his head, and his normally large black pupils had narrowed to slits. "What's wrong?" Matt asked.

Shade nudged his head forward a little. Matt followed his gaze, and saw what at first appeared to be an ordinary section of floor. But when he looked closer, he saw that it was a little uneven.

"Right there," he said, pointing to it. "It looks like another one of those pressure plates."

Shade stepped forward, testing it. Sure enough, it sunk in. Behind them, a ways down the hall, there was a loud grating noise, and then a _whoosh_. He then noticed that all throughout the hallway, there were small slits in the wall.

"What the hell is that?" asked Ben.

"I don't know," said Trent. "But something tells me we need to get out of here."

"Agreed," said Matt. He pointed his flashlight back in curiosity and saw, just at the edge of the flashlight's beam, movement.

He kept watching, and he saw a giant blade sweep through the hallway. It came again, slightly closer.

"Run!" he yelled.

Ben, Trent, and Shade took off running. Matt followed them, but his leg had had enough. It finally gave out, and even with his poker he couldn't keep up. He collapsed to the floor, tried to get back up, and collapsed again.

When the others reached the wall, they turned around and saw Matt struggling to get to his feet and run.

"Matt!" Ben yelled. Shade shrieked in terror.

Matt saw a door crack in the beam from the flashlight as he was crawling along. "Get that door open!" he yelled. "Don't worry about me; I'll be fine!"

Ben and Trent grabbed onto the door and started pushing. Light spilled into the tunnel. Shade, however, ran over to Matt and nudged him with his head.

"Go, Shade!" Matt yelled. "I'll be okay!"

Shade wouldn't hear it. He bent over and nudged his head under Matt, so he rolled onto his neck. He ran down to the door, with Matt holding on tightly.

The blades were almost there. Shade started to squeeze through the door. He was going quicker than usual, but the blades were too close.

"Come on Shade!" Matt yelled.

"Come on, come on, come on," Ben muttered.

Shade was halfway through the door. The blades were a mere ten feet away, now, and rapidly coming closer.

He kept pushing forward, and was almost free. Matt turned around, and watched in horror as a blade fell from the opposite wall and flew towards them. He shut his eyes and waited to die.

But death didn't come. Shade gave one final heave and popped free from the door. He ran forward, the blade missing his tail by mere millimeters.

As the dragon slumped to the ground, Matt crawled from Shade's neck to his back; a riding position more comfortable for both of them. He lay there, hugging his neck. "Twice in one day, buddy," he said. "Thank you." Shade let out a warble, and sat down.

Trent observed their surroundings. They were in the middle of a forest. He sat down against a tree to rest for a moment. "Thank God that's over," he said. "We did it."

Ben sat down next to Matt and Shade. He looked up at Matt. "Hey, Matt," he said.

"Yeah?" Matt replied.

"Welcome home."

* * *

**So, what did you guys think? Let me know! I'm always happy to get feedback!**

**Same time, next week! We'll see what they do now that they're finally back in New Hampshire!**


	7. Chapter Six: Survivors

**UGH I missed the deadline again. I had such a stressful weekend, it was ridiculous.**

**Anyway, this is a different kind of chapter, in which we see some new faces...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or Night Furies**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**Survivors**

**Harristown, New Hampshire**

After Ben and Shade's wounds were treated and the four of them rested for a little while, they set off. They were still very far from their destination; they had walked a long way off course while trying to get through the wall. At first, Shade had carried Matt on his back, but even he was starting to get tired. Matt found a stick and used it to hold himself up.

After a couple hours of walking, they finally made it to Harristown.

The place was a wreck compared to how Matt remembered it. Several buildings were destroyed, and cars were scattered everywhere; most of them wrecked. There were no zombies to be seen, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

"Z-Day hit you pretty hard," Matt observed.

"You don't know the half of it," Ben replied. "Some idiots went crazy and started blowing up everything in sight. They automatically assumed everyone else was going to try to kill them."

"What happened to them?" Matt asked.

"They blew each other up in a Mexican standoff."

"That's… nice…"

They walked for a while in silence, each keeping to their own thoughts. They were all very tired and just wanted to find a place to rest.

As he was walking, Matt observed the wreckage. Pangs of nostalgia and sadness shot through him as he remembered what this place used to be. It was a busy town, full of live people. Now, it was nothing but a ruin.

He remembered all the places he used to go. GameStop, the school, the used book store, the music store; all of it. Those were good times. He wanted them back, and it hurt to think that he would never get them.

After a while, they came to the biggest plaza in Harristown. It held a giant Wal-Mart, Staples, Home Depot, and some other stores. It was there that Matt broke the silence.

"We should look for survivors," he suggested.

Trent thought for a moment, then replied, "Okay, but where?"

"Well, I remember where three people used to live," Matt suggested. "I think we should split up to see if they're still alive. Ben, do you remember where Jean used to live?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ben replied.

"Well, I think you and Trent should look there, and me and Shade will look where Joey and Brian used to live."

"Okay," Trent agreed. "Where do you want to meet?"

"How about at Cumby's?" Matt suggested.

"Sounds good."

"What if we find survivors?" Trent asked

Matt thought for a moment. "Come back anyway. Unless they're in grave danger, they'll be able to fend for themselves a little longer if they've made it this far."

"Okay," said Trent.

"Yay, more walking," said Ben sarcastically. "I fucking love my life."

They parted ways. With Shade walking beside him, Matt set off for Brian's house.

"You holding up alright?" Matt asked.

Shade nodded wearily. It was obvious he was nearing the end of his rope, however. His pace was slower than before, and his movements more sluggish.

"Well, at least if we don't find them, we can use their house," Matt pointed out.

Shade grunted in agreement.

They walked for a while in silence. The thing about their friendship was that even when they were completely silent, and even though Shade had extremely limited communication with Matt, they were still just content to enjoy each other's company. Their limited communication had in time created a deeper level of understanding between them as they found ways to bypass this problem. In these dark times, Matt had been extremely grateful just to have a friend alongside him. So, despite all that had happened, Matt didn't feel too bad. He had made it through alive, and he had not just one, but now three friends to face whatever was next with him.

"Shade?" Matt asked.

Shade stopped for a moment and looked at him with mild curiosity.

"I just wanted to say… Thanks. For everything. I would never have made it this far without you."

Shade looked at him with warm eyes, his expression saying the same in return. He walked over to him and nudged his shoulder playfully with his head.

Matt grinned and patted Shade's head. Then, he scratched the scales on Shade's neck. Shade closed his eyes and opened his mouth slightly in pleasure, like a dog behind scratched behind the ears.

After a few seconds of this, Matt stopped. "Alright buddy," he said. "We've got to get moving."

Just before Brian's house came into sight, Matt stopped. "Hold on a second, Shade," he said.

The dragon stopped and looked at him questioningly.

"I think we should split up," said Matt. Shade looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, and he quickly explained, "Not far from each other; we'd still be able to help if one of us gets in trouble. I was just thinking that one of us should go behind his house, and the other should go in front. It'll give us a chance to scout out both sides at the same time, and we can flank any survivors that might get too trigger-happy."

Shade considered this for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.

"Alright, do you want front or back?" Matt asked.

Shade jerked his head backwards.

"Okay, then I'll take the front."

They walked forward until Brian's house came into view. "That's the one," he said, pointing to it. Shade slipped out of sight and Matt kept walking.

In truth, Matt didn't really think he was going to find anyone. It was mostly wishful thinking on his part. He had to be sure.

A minute later, he reached Brian's house. He attempted to open the door and it fell right out of the frame.

_I highly doubt anyone lives here_, he thought to himself. _I'll go find Shade and we'll go to Joey's_.

He walked into the house and almost laughed at the site in front of him. The front of the house was perfectly fine, yet the inside of the house was completely destroyed. Everything was charred black, and the entire back half of the house had been reduced to a pile of black rubble and soot. Sitting in front of the pile and looking at him, his tail curled around his paws, was Shade.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Matt suggested.

They proceeded to Joey's neighborhood. Shade was so tired that he felt like his paws were going to fall off. His legs ached, his shoulders ached, and even his wings ached a little bit. He tried not to think of the trip back to the meeting place that they would have to make. Instead, he set his thoughts to the present. He had made it through the wall alive. That was good. Matt had survived as well. Also good. As long as it stayed that way, than everything would be all right.

He wasn't sure what to expect from this next house. Like Matt, he didn't think that they would find anyone. But what if they did?

Shade had a suspicion that he might be forced to resort to more violent methods of contact if they found anyone. Survivors had a habit of being at least a little bit paranoid. And no matter how good his intentions, Shade, like most Night Furies, would most likely be seen as a threat.

Matt was possibly in even more danger. If they mistook him for a zombie, he might not even make it within ten feet of their house.

_If they threaten us, I _will _threaten them back_, Shade thought to himself. _I don't want to, but I will_.

It was true that he didn't want to. Despite his slight lack of trust in them, he couldn't deny the fact that Ben and Trent were alright, and he was interested in meeting any other friends of Matt that might still be alive.

They entered another neighborhood. "Okay, Shade. Time to split up again," Matt announced. "That house over there is where we're going."

Shade slipped into the trees behind the houses. He was able to move slightly faster than Matt, so he beat him to the house. Due to his dark scales and the afternoon shadows the trees cast, he was able to blend in more than one might think.

When he made it behind the house, he heard something. He pricked his ears so he could hear it better, and what he heard surprised him.

He heard voices from inside the house. They were quiet, and he couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were definitely there.

Carefully, he stepped out of the woods into the backyard, approaching the slider door that led into the house. Suddenly, the voices stopped. Then, slightly louder, he heard someone say, "I'll go check."

There were footsteps heading his way. He froze, realizing that somehow he had alerted them. He had no time to hide- he just stood there and hoped they wouldn't be hostile.

The slider door opened, and a human of about Matt's age came out. He was skinny, a little on the short side, and had light brown hair of about average length. He was wearing a green shirt, blue jeans, and was holding a shotgun.

At first, he didn't see Shade. Shade was to his right, and he looked left first, searching, his gun at the ready. And then he turned his head and saw him.

He jumped, startled. "What the fuck?!" he yelled. Shade just sat there, putting on his best innocent face.

The human raised his gun and pointed it at Shade, his hands quivering. "A-a dragon? Are you really a dragon?" he asked. "Or am I seeing things?"

Shade stood up and took a step forward, attempting to convey the message that he wasn't a threat. Unfortunately, it didn't get through.

The human pumped the shotgun, and aimed it at Shade. "Don't come any closer!" he commanded.

Shade stopped walking, but still stared at the human. "It's okay," he said. Even though he knew the human couldn't understand, he was hoping that the overall message would be conveyed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The human kept pointing the gun at him. To be honest, he was starting to lose his patience.

It was then that the human made his mistake.

He fired the shotgun at Shade, purposefully missing, intending to scare him off. Shade instinctively jumped at him, and pinned him to the ground. With one scoop of his claws, he snatched the shotgun out of the human's hand and tossed it into the woods.

The human screamed, but Shade cut him off by striking his throat with his paw. His two outer claws pressed towards the ground, not reaching it, but holding the human's head in place. The other two dug into the skin of his neck, not piercing it, but still scratching. He roared in the human's face, at the same time extending his retractable teeth.

_Maybe that wasn't the best idea_, Shade thought. _Oh well; no going back now. Where the hell is Matt, anyway?_

"D-don't k-ki-kill me, p-please," the human stuttered when Shade stopped roaring.

"Yeah," came a voice behind them. "That would be a very bad idea."

Shade felt cold metal press against his head, and his heart sank.

_Forgot about that one_, he thought. _I'm just too tired for this today_.

"Brian!" the other human exclaimed hoarsely, as it was hard to talk normally when a claw was pressed against your throat. "What the _hell_ took you so long?"

"I was in the bathroom," Brian explained.

"Why the fuck were you in the bathroom?"

"I assumed it was just another zombie."

"Well obviously it's not 'just another damn zombie!'"

"Enough of this!" Shade growled. "Put that thing down, or I will kill the Small One!"

Even though it was a lie; Shade was in no more of a position to kill the other human than Brian was to kill him.

"You shut up," said Brian.

_You little bastard…_

"Joey," said Brian. "What the hell are you doing being pinned to the ground by a dragon?"

"Yeah, Joey. Why _are_ you being pinned to the ground by a dragon?" came Matt's voice behind them. "Better yet, why are _you _pointing a gun at said dragon, Brian?"

Brian sighed deeply. "Great," he said.

"Who is it?" asked Joey. "I can't turn my head!"

"I don't know, but I don't think that's a stick he's holding to my head," Brian replied.

"No, it's probably his dick," said Joey.

"No offense, but you aren't exactly in a position to be making insults right now, Joey," said Matt.

"Go to hell!"

"Did I not just say-"

"Look, we're not getting anywhere like this!" Shade growled, flicking his tail in annoyance.

Matt got the message. "Alright, alright!" he said. "Look, I don't want to kill you. I just want to talk, without weapons or death threats. So, let's all put our weapons down."

Nobody moved.

"Okay… We don't trust each other. Right." Matt paused for a moment. "Joey, I want you to stay exactly as you are. Don't even move your head. Got it?"

"Fine," said Joey.

"Shade, get your claw away from his throat, but keep him held down."

Shade sighed. "Fine." He freed Joey's head and throat, but pressed the paw he had removed against his chest.

"Okay, Brian, put your gun down," Matt ordered.

"How can I trust you?" Brian asked. "You're holding a gun to my head. If I put mine down, there's nothing stopping you from shooting me."

"If I wanted to kill you, I would've done so before you knew I was here," Matt replied. "I had a perfectly clear shot.

For a moment, Brian must've been thinking it over in his head, because he said, "That makes sense." He put the gun down and Matt followed suit. "Now then," he said. "How long has it been, Brian? Eight months? It feels like so much longer."

"Who are yo-" Brian's voice was cut off. "Matt," he said, incredulous.

"What the fu-" Joey turned his head and was cut off. "Oh my God," he repeated.

"I never thought I'd see you two again," Matt stated, holstering his pistol. "Sorry about that, by the way. I saw Shade in a mess, and had to get him out."

"It's okay," said Brian.

"This dragon is your friend?" asked Joey.

"Yeah."

"Well, could you please ask him to get the helloffof me?"

_Oh… Right. _Shade thought. He had been distracted, and the thought that he should let Joey up hadn't crossed his mind. He removed his paw from Joey's chest and held it out to him.

"What is he doing?" Joey asked.

"I think he wants to help you up," Matt replied.

Joey hesitated, and then grabbed Shade's paw. Shade sat down on his hind legs, at the same time helping Joey to his feet. "Sorry about that," he said. He then looked at Brian for the first time. He was tall and thin, with short blond hair. He was wearing blue jeans as well, and a Hollywood Undead T-shirt.

"Shade, I'm sorry, but attacking Joey was really uncalled for," said Matt.

Shade lowered his head in shame.

"And Joey… No offense, but did you ignore everything Sam ever said about dragons? Why the hell did you shoot at one and miss?"

"I'm sorry!" Joey protested. "I was trying to scare it off!"

Shade growled slightly at the mention of him as 'it.'

"He's a guy," said Matt. "And that doesn't work. It just pisses them off."

Suddenly, Brian pointed his gun at Matt. "What's that wound?" he asked.

Shade growled ferociously, his eyes narrowing to slits. He took a step forward. "Don't you dare," he hissed.

Matt held his hands up. "Wait, Shade," he said. Then, speaking to Brian, he said, "It's okay. It's only a gunshot wound. I'll tell you more about it later, but I can assure you that wasn't bit."

Brian kept his gun pointed at him for a moment, then lowered it, saying, "All right. But I'm keeping an eye on you."

Shade backed off, sitting down. However, he kept watch on Brian.

"I'm really sorry about that," said Matt. "We were looking for you. We wanted to know if you were still alive, and, well, it looks like you are. I was hoping that our reunion would be a little… nicer."

"It's okay," said Brian. "I just can't believe you're still alive too"

"We thought you were dead, Matt," said Joey.

"I thought the same about you," said Matt. "I just wanted to be sure. Looks like I was wrong."

"So, do you want to come in?" asked Brian. "You and… Shade, was it?"

Shade nodded. He was hesitant; he didn't really like them at the moment, but he trusted Matt, so he would give them a chance.

"You and Shade can stay here for a bit if you need to," Brian offered.

"Wait a minute," said Joey. "That dragon almost killed me, and you're asking him to spend the night?"

"Joey, if he wanted to kill you, you'd have been dead long before Brian got outside," said Matt. "He felt threatened, that's all."

"Oh fine," Joey gave in. "But if I die tonight, it's your fault Brian!"

"So do you want to come in or not?" asked Brian.

"I'd love to, but I can't at the moment," Matt replied. "I was supposed to meet Ben and Trent-"

"Ben?!" Joey asked, in shock. "Ben's alive too?!"

"Yeah. He and his friend Trent- the lead singer of Still We're Forgotten- are meeting us at Wal-Mart. They're searching other parts of Harristown for survivors."

_Great_, Shade thought. _More walking._

"So let me get this straight," said Brian. "Not only are you and Ben alive, but you've teamed up with a famous singer and a dragon?"

"Well, to be specific, we both survived, but in different places without knowing each other was alive. I met and became best friends with a Night Fury, and Ben met and became best friends with a famous singer. We met up yesterday, and now we're here."

Brian turned to Joey. "Joey, what did you put in my drink this morning?"

"I can't remember," Joey replied. "But whatever it was, it was good shit."

"Anyway, can we stay here afterwards?" Matt asked.

"Sure," said Brian. "You're welcome to stay for as long as you need."

"Thanks," said Matt. He started to walk away, and Shade followed him, keeping an eye on Brian and Joey as he went.

"Wait," said Matt, stopping for a moment.

"Yeah?" asked Brian.

"What happened back here anyway?" asked Matt.

"Well, we have some hidden motion sensors out here," Brian explained. "Shade set one off, and when Joey went to check what happened… I think the rest is self-explanatory."

Matt and Shade went back to meet Ben and Trent at the Cumberland Farms gas station. They were both completely worn out. Not only were they exhausted, but they had had no luck whatsoever finding survivors. But when Matt told them what happened, they immediately cheered up.

An hour later, all six of them were at Joey's house, having a reunion and getting reacquainted with each other in his living room. In the background the song "No. 5" by Hollywood Undead was playing. Brian and Joey sat on one couch while Ben and Trent sat on another and Matt and Shade sat on the floor.

"I can't believe we actually found you," Ben commented, taking a sip of vodka.

"I can't believe you found us either," said Brian. "We thought you were all dead."

The four of them were incredibly tired. Matt was sore all over, and his gunshot wound throbbed menacingly. Shade, who was normally social, was lying on the floor, his eyes closed. Matt was sitting against his back, scratching Shade's neck while conversing with the others.

"So, what's your story?" asked Joey.

"Well," said Trent. "We could get into that, but it would probably take up an hour of our time. Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Who cares?" Matt replied, even though the question wasn't directed to him. "We're alive and we have shelter. And we found new friends. I don't care what we talk about at this point. Unless, that is, we're planning on killing Shade while he's asleep, or something," he added, jokingly.

Shade's ears pricked at this, and his tail slapped Matt in the face playfully.

"Hmm…" said Matt. "I could've sworn he was asleep."

"I'm with Matt," said Brian.

"Okay," said Trent. "Who wants to go first?"

Ben raised his hand. "Oh! Oh! Pick me!"

"Ben, you may speak," said Joey.

"Yay," he exclaimed gleefully. He then proceeded to tell them the same story he told Matt and Trent before. He told them about Z-Day, about getting out of New Hampshire, and about meeting Trent in Chicago, and then all the way to their meeting with Matt and Shade.

Then, Trent took over. He told them his story. As Z-Day broke out, he had been playing a concert in Los Angeles. Everything had been going fine, and then suddenly the crowd went crazy. The zombies started killing people left and right, and before the band even knew what was going on, they were on stage. They killed all of his band members. Trent tried to go home to save his family, but he was too late- they had already been killed. Distraught, he swore that he would find a way to rid the world of the zombies.

"And I think I found a way to do it," said Trent.

Brian and Joey stared in a disbelieving silence. "How?" asked Joey, incredulous. "How are you going to kill all the zombies in the world? Are you going to fly to each country, and take a head count- literally- of all the zombies?"

"No," said Trent. "I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do it. Yet. But get this; you know that there was a laboratory in New Hampshire, right?"

"Yeah…" said Brian.

"Well," Trent began, "There was another. They didn't tell _anyone_ about this one. It was the heart of the whole operation, and it was in New Hampshire- which is actually why they built the wall around it. I don't know what they were doing, but the info I found strongly suggests there's a solution there."

"Where is it?" asked Brian.

"I don't know," said Trent. "Only that it's underground, like the rest of them."

"Why New Hampshire?" asked Joey. "Why here, of all places?"

"Because nobody would expect it," Trent replied.

There was silence for a moment. Then, everyone started laughing.

"Ahahaha, stupid New Hampshire," Joey commented.

"Live free or die! Literally," Ben exclaimed.

"So what's your story, Matt?" asked Brian.

Matt thought back, remembering all that had happened. "Well, I was in Colorado for Z-Day… But you know that," he began. "I don't really like to think about Z-Day. Too many bad things happened. But after America fell, I stayed in Colorado for a month, trying to pick myself up. When I finally did, I started walking."

He continued, telling them about meeting Shade and about their times together. He told them about Shade's accident, and they laughed. Shade glared at them. Matt then told them about the days after that, and then Lawrence. They laughed again when he told them about his wound, but were silenced when he mentioned the horde.

"It was the biggest any of us have ever seen," said Matt. "It shouldn't have been that big. Every zombie in the city was being draw to us. It makes no sense."

"That's so weird," Brian commented.

"Great, now the zombies are getting smart," said Joey.

"I wouldn't say that," said Trent. "But it's still disturbing."

For a bit, nobody was sure what to say. Finally, Brian changed the subject. "So, what did you guys do after you met up?"

"Well," Ben began, "We went back to room 69 and had a happy reunion. And then I got drunk. But, anyways, the next day, we went through the wall, which turned out to be designed by James Wan."

"Wait," said Joey. "You got through the wall?"

"Yeah," said Matt. "It was hard, but we did it.

"We tried to get through once," said Brian. "It killed Adam."

"What?" Matt said, shocked. "Steve was killed like that? That must've been horrible."

"Yeah… It was," Brian replied. He and Joey shared a sorrowful glance.

"I'm sorry…" said Trent.

"What exactly happened here on Z-Day?" Matt asked.

"Well," Joey began. "Me, Brian, and a bunch of our friends teamed up to escape. Only five of us escaped the school. One of us was killed on the road to Brian's house."

"When we got to my house, my family was gone," Brian continued, starting to choke up a little. "Some lunatic was hiding there. Phil went in first, but it was rigged, and the whole house exploded. It killed both him and the asshole."

"Wow…" said Matt. "That's horrible. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Brian. "Bad things happened to all of us. Anyway, me, Joey, and Adam stayed here for a bit. After the America fell, I mean. Things started getting worse, so we tried to leave. It took us forever to find the door that led into the wall, but we eventually did. But when we got in, there were these… blades that were swinging from the wall. They cut Steve almost in half, right in front of us…" he trailed off.

"We couldn't go back after that," said Joey. "And we couldn't find another way. So we're stuck here. We didn't want to leave Harristown because… Even with all that's happening, it's still home."

Once again, the room was quiet. Then, Ben spoke. "You said things were getting worse. What do you mean?"

"There's shit going on everywhere you look," said Joey. "Today, there weren't many out, but usually Harristown is zombie paradise. A group of trigger-happy lunatics put up a wall all around Gunnerville, and shoot or capture anything that comes near. Then there's the group in Norbury at war with Gunnerville. The Gunnerville people want Norbury as their own, but the Norbury people refuse to give it up. We haven't heard anything from Lyndrich in months."

"God," said Matt. "Looks like we went out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"I'll say," said Ben. "Hasn't _anything_ good happened to you?"

"Well," Brian began. "We just met up with you. That's one thing. Also, we're both still alive."

"Also, Sam might still be alive," Joey added.

"Really?" Matt and Ben said in excited unison.

"Yeah. It's a small chance, but it's a chance all the same."

"How do you know?" Ben asked.

"We saw him a while ago," Brian explained. "After about a month, right after Steve died, he came through town from Vermont. Apparently he took a plane or something and crashed it on the other side, but made it out alive."

At this, Ben was grinning, and trying not to laugh.

"We offered for him to stay with us, but he declined," Brian continued. "He said he wanted to go home. He stayed in contact, that is, until the Gunnerville crazies moved in and cut off all communication."

"I hope he's still alive," said Matt.

About an hour later, their spirits were back up again. In fact, they were higher than they had been in a long time. It was dark out, Ben was drunk again, and they were all playing cards. The song "Been To Hell" by Hollywood Undead was playing in the background.

Matt and Trent had taught Shade how to play BS. It wasn't easy, considering Shade was a dragon and had no opposable thumbs, but he developed a system of playing. The humans even made up a "BS" signal for him: he would slap the person in the face with his tail.

They started a new round. Trent had the ace of spades, and he put it down. "Bullshit!" Ben yelled.

"Ben, why the hell would he lie about that?" Joey asked.

"He just is," said Ben.

Ben took the card and added it to his hand. Up next was Joey. He looked through his hand, and put down two cards. "Two twos," he said.

"Bullshit!" Ben yelled.

"God damn it!" Joey exclaimed. He took the cards back.

Brian's turn. He looked through his hand and put down three cards. "Three threes," he said.

Matt had two threes. Brian couldn't possibly have three. He was about to call BS when Ben yelled, "Bullshit!"

"Dang!" Brian exclaimed, laughing. He took the cards back.

Matt's turn. He looked through his cards. He had one four. Could he get away with lying?

_Probably not outright_, Matt thought. _But…_

He took two cards; the four and a three. Before taking them out of his hand, he pushed them together so that from in front or behind they looked like only one card. Then, he put them down. "One four," he said.

"Bullshit!"

_Damn. _Matt took the cards back.

Now it was Shade's turn.

Shade had hidden his cards with his wing. He looked at his cards, his reptilian face furrowed in contemplation. Then, with his claw, he flipped some over and dragged three of them out. He pushed them into the center in a rough pile.

Three fives.

"Bullshit!" Ben yelled.

Shade leaned forward, smacked Ben in the face with his tail, and with his paw flung the cards at him. There were three fives.

Everyone laughed.

Then it was Ben's turn. Everyone watched as he put down his entire hand and said, "One six."

Everyone yelled "Bullshit!" in unison, including Ben. Shade smacked him with his tail again.

They started the round over, everyone yelling at Ben until he agreed to play seriously this time. After a few more games, they stopped playing, and just talked for a while. All of them, that is, except for Ben, who was passed out on the couch. Two hours later, they decided that it was time for bed.

"You guys want to use the two bedrooms upstairs?" Joey asked. "There's three; one for me and Brian, and my parents' and sister's old rooms."

"No, I've got to stay here," Trent replied. "This guy can't fend for himself like this if the zombies decide to break in. In fact, I'll take the first watch if you want."

"Okay," said Brian. "How about you?" he asked Matt.

Matt thought for a moment, and then replied, "Sure, me and Shade will use one." It had been forever since he had last slept in a bed.

"Okay, you can have my parents' old room," said Joey.

They all parted ways. Matt and Shade retired to the bedroom Joey had designated for them. Matt got into his pajamas (he still had a pair for special occasions) and got into bed. Shade jumped up and was just able to squeeze his body onto the bed as well, even though his tail drooped off onto the floor.

Matt thought about things for a bit before he was able to fall asleep. A revelation dawned on him; they couldn't move like this anymore. They needed to lie low for a bit to recuperate. They were wounded and weak, and needed rest.

"Shade," Matt said.

The Night Fury grunted in response.

"Do you want to stay here for a week or so?" he asked. "To give your wing a chance to heal?"

Shade lifted his head and looked at him, nodding excitedly.

"Okay," said Matt. "I'll talk to the others about it tomorrow.

Shade nudged Matt's head in affection. Matt patted his head, and scratched the scales on his neck. "Goodnight," he said.

Ten minutes later, they were both asleep.

* * *

**Well, let me know what you think! I'll hope to see you again this weekend- on time, this time.**


	8. Chapter Seven: Snowfall

**So, here's a new chapter guys! And on time this week, too! This chapter is a short, laid back one. No major plot developments, just some relaxing character interaction.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**Snowfall**

**Harristown, New Hampshire**

The next morning, Matt shared his idea with the others while they were eating breakfast.

"That's a great idea," said Trent. "I feel like I've been mugged, and I wasn't even hurt. I can only imagine how bad you guys must feel."

It was true. Matt felt like his leg had been doused in kerosene, and he was sure Shade's wing was feeling the same.

"Holy shit," said Joey. "You know what I just realized?"

"What?" asked Ben, holding a cold bottle of vodka to his aching head.

"It's December first. It's almost Christmas."

"Holy shit," Matt repeated. "You're right." His mind began to wander back to the times before Z-Day; the Christmases he had seen. They had been beautiful, wondrous times for the most part, and throughout the good and the bad they were some of the things he missed most. He missed the feeling of family, and the fun of exchanging gifts. All of it was gone now. It would never come again.

The other four seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Finally, Ben broke the silence, changing the subject. "You don't happen to have any shaving equipment, do you?" he asked.

"Actually, we do," Brian replied. "We have a generator that we use for showering, shaving, and washing clothes. We used to use it all the time, but we started running out of gas really quickly, so now we only use it for that."

"Perfect," said Trent. "Can we use it?"

"Sure, why not?"

They started up the generator and took turns using the various appliances. The water was dirty, but they were so grateful to have it that they didn't care.

Matt washed his clothes first, and as he was taking them off, he noticed his iPod in the pocket of his pants.

He decided to listen to some music. He plugged his headphones into the iPod and hit shuffle. As he started to wash his clothes, the opening, upbeat notes of John Powell's "See You Tomorrow"- from the _How To Train Your Dragon_ soundtrack- started playing.

Over the next few days, they spent most of the time scavenging from stores, playing card games, and shooting zombies. While scavenging, Matt found a new sweatshirt that looked exactly like his old one, and got some anti-biotics to treat his gunshot wound.

They invented a game to see who could make the most creative kills. Every once in a while, someone would set some sort of trap for a zombie to fall into. If people liked it, the person got a point. Everyone was keeping track of their points, and so far, Ben was winning, with Shade close behind.

They also had a habit of playing practical jokes on each other. Ben and Shade were the biggest jokers. Shade's jokes were usually the worst, because they often involved being burned.

One day, Ben and Shade teamed up. Joey was walking near the trees, when he activated a trip wire. It caught his foot and dragged him up into the tree, hanging him upside-down. At the same time, Shade shot a burst of fire at his feet, sending him flying into the air. He kept going until the rope caught, and he fell back down.

He wasn't very happy about that. The next day, Ben and Shade did it to a zombie instead.

On December 8th, the first snowfall came. It happened overnight, while everyone was asleep. Come morning, there were six inches of snow on the ground.

When Matt and Shade got up that morning, they stepped outside to observe the white landscape. As they were marveling at it, Matt received a snowball to the face. He heard the laughter of Brian and Joey from off to the side.

"What the hell?" Matt protested. He scooped up his own snowball and hit Brian in the chest.

"Before this goes any further," said Trent, appearing from around the corner of the house. "I say we wake Ben up."

Ben was the kind of person who never woke up until around 11 o'clock, unless someone else woke him up. It was only 8:30 then, so unless they woke him up themselves, he wouldn't be able to join them.

"Okay," said Matt. He was about to go inside, when Joey stopped him.

"Wait," he said. "I have an idea."

"What's that?" Matt asked.

Joey explained his scheme to everyone.

Matt grinned. "Let's do it," he said.

Joey made the biggest snowball he could, and the five of them went inside. They went upstairs to the third bedroom, which Trent and Ben had moved into. Ben had gotten the bed that night; he and Trent, as well as Brian and Joey, switched between sleeping in the bed and on the floor every night. They gathered around the bed and watched Joey do his work.

Joey approached Ben, who was in a deep sleep. As quickly as he could, he lifted the covers and placed the snowball on top of Ben's pants. As soon as he was done, they all cleared out.

When they got outside, Matt turned to Shade, laughing. "He's gonna be pissed when he wakes up." He waited for the dragon to agree, but then noticed that he seemed overwhelmed. His eyes darted over the snow as if he had never seen it before. That's when Matt realized that he _hadn't_ seen snow before. He'd spent his entire life cooped up in a lab, and had never been out during the winter. Snow was an alien concept to him.

Matt walked over to him. "You've never seen snow before, have you?"

Shade shook his head.

"That's too bad," said Matt. "We get it up here a lot. Expect a lot more where this came from. It's basically a bunch of little ice crystals that are so small they appear as powder. It's very fun; I used to always go sledding, and skiing…" Matt trailed off, realizing Shade probably had no idea what he was talking about. "You know what? I'm going to show you how much fun you can have with snow."

He made a snowball, and threw it at Joey, yelling, "Snowball fight!"

Joey whirled around, about to say something. He only managed to get out, "Wha-" before the snowball slammed into his face.

Trent burst out laughing.

Behind them, in the house, a yell came from upstairs.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Looks like Ben's awake," Brian observed.

"Good," said Joey. "He deserves it for hanging me from a tree. Speaking of which…" he trailed off, and made a snowball. "You're responsible for that too, Shade," he said, before throwing it at him.

Shade tried to duck out of the way, but it hit his wing. He responded by playfully tackling Joey.

Ben came out, and was extremely pissed. So pissed that he took advantage of Joey's helplessness and used it to repeated shove Joey's face into the snow.

Within minutes, they had all engaged in a full-on snowball fight. It wasn't long before they became freezing, sopping wet. They were having the time of their lives. Even Shade was participating in the fight, albeit with very poorly-constructed snowballs. At one point, a zombie wandered into the backyard, and was promptly bombarded with snowballs, before being incinerated in a blast of fire.

After a half hour or so, the cold started getting to them. They went back inside, lit a fire, and huddled around it. Shade allowed Matt to use his wing as a makeshift blanket, in a very successful attempt to get warm. Ben claimed his other wing, even though almost everyone was yelling at him to share.

"Sharing is caring, and caring is bad," he responded.

"You know," said Brian. "We could get some blankets from upstairs."

"You get them," said Joey. "I don't want to leave this fire."

"One of you two should get them," said Trent.

"No thanks," said Ben. "I'm too lazy."

"And I'm way too warm and comfortable," Matt added.

"Fuck you," said Joey, giving them the finger.

"You wish," said Ben.

"You know what? I'll get them," said Trent. He walked out of the room, punching Ben in the back of the head as he walked out.

"Ow," Ben complained.

"Shut up," said Joey.

"I'm starting to regret having a snowball fight in a T-shirt," said Brian.

"Yeah, that really wasn't a good idea…" Matt agreed.

A half hour later, when they were all warmed up, they made breakfast. As he was eating, it suddenly occurred to Matt that it had been a while since he had checked on Shade's wing. He turned to Shade and asked, "Hey Shade, is your wing still sore?" As he waited for a reply, he looked at the wing himself. The scar was still there, but it would probably always be. He could still fly with a scar.

Shade shook his head.

Matt contemplated this for a moment, then said, "You wanna fly today?"

Shade froze, his eyes widening and his ears pricking up. Then, he practically jumped on Matt, nodding in excitement.

Matt held him back, laughing. "Okay, okay, calm down," he said. He turned to the others. "Hey guys," he called.

They looked up at him.

"You want to fly a dragon later?"

At around 10:30, they were all outside again.

"Alright, I'm going first," said Matt. "I'm not sure how this will work out." He climbed onto Shade's back and settled into his riding position. He didn't have a saddle; he wasn't sure how to make one, and you couldn't exactly find a dragon saddle at your local Wal-Mart, so he rode bareback.

He wrapped his arms around Shade's neck and held on tightly. Takeoff was usually rough, and would be especially rough this time, seeing as it was his first time in weeks. "You ready?" he asked.

Shade nodded, grunting in anticipation.

"Okay," said Matt. He reached into his pocket and pressed the Play button on his iPod. John Powell's "Test Drive" began playing in his ear.

_How fitting_, Matt thought.

"Go!" he commanded.

Shade took off running, and Matt held on for dear life. After a few paces, Shade jumped into the air and flapped his wings. At first, it didn't look like he would make it. He dipped dangerously close to the ground, but at the last second, he pulled through. He shot into the sky, soaring high above the houses and trees. When he was high enough, he locked into his altitude for a few minutes, taking it easy and getting used to the feeling once more.

Matt risked letting go of Shade's neck. He raised his arms into the sky, and yelled as loud as could in excitement. Shade roared with him, and shot a ball of fire into the sky above.

Matt returned his arms to Shade's neck, holding on again. Feeling this, Shade decided it was time to speed things up. With a sudden jerk, he flipped downward, and dived. Matt yelled, adrenaline coursing through his body. Shade exited the dive and flipped in the air several times. Matt held on even tighter, and dug his feet into Shade's body. After a while, Shade decided he'd had enough, and stopped flipping, opting instead for a peaceful soar.

"Looks like you can finally fly again," said Matt. He felt more at peace than he had in months.

After a few minutes, Shade needed to rest. He landed back in Joey's backyard, where the others were cheering. They were very impressed.

Shade sat down for a minute, resting his wing. "Think you can manage another flight in a few minutes?" Matt asked him.

Shade nodded.

"Alright, who's next?" Matt asked.

It was decided, through much "reasonable debate", that Brian would go next. When Shade was ready, Matt helped Brian onto the dragon's back and explained everything to him.

"Sit like this," Matt said, gesturing to Brian's posture. "And don't let go. Keep your arms around his neck unless he's flying straight. If you don't, well… Bad things will happen.

"Hold on as tight as possible and don't try anything stupid. Now, let him know when you're ready." Matt walked over to Shade's head. "Go easy on him, okay?" he requested, patting him in the head. "We don't to scare him too badly."

"Hey!" Brian exclaimed.

Shade snorted in agreement.

Matt stood back with the others. After a minute, Brian said nervously, "Okay Shade, let's go."

Shade ran forward and took off, and Brian started screaming in a mix of excitement and terror. Shade did his thing; flying smoothly and peacefully at some parts, and then diving and looping at others. When he finally came back, Brian looked like he had just been through hell. He quickly got off of Shade. "How was it?" Matt asked.

"That was the most terrifying thing I've ever done," said Brian. "And it was amazing."

Matt laughed. "That was my reaction the first time, too," he said. He walked over to Shade, who was holding his wing at an odd angle. "Your wing okay?" he asked. Shade nodded, but his expression was pained.

"Sore?" Matt asked.

Shade nodded.

"Do you think you're done today?"

Shade nodded.

Matt turned to the others. "He's done for today," he said. "Sorry."

Ben, Joey, and Trent groaned.

"Sorry! You'll get your turns tomorrow."

Later, they went scavenging for food in town. There weren't as many zombies out as usual, although there were still plenty more than there had been when Matt, Ben, Trent, and Shade had come through eight days earlier. They made a game out of it, and tried to have as much fun as possible killing the zombies. After all, when it was an everyday task for them, why not try to make it as fun as possible?

At one point, they split up. Brian, Joey, and Trent went to plaza where Wal-Mart was, and Matt, Ben, and Shade walked further up the road until they reached the strip mall that contained GameStop.

While they were walking, Ben noticed the T-Mobile store right next to the GameStop. As he looked at it, an idea popped into his head.

He walked over to Shade, and whispered in his ear. "Hey Shade. You know… It's very cold out… A little fire would be nice, wouldn't it? If you know what I mean…"

Shade's ears pricked; he was interested.

"You see that T-Mobile store there?" Ben asked, pointing to it. "Well, their service sucks. I'm going to lead a group of zombies in there, and when I yell 'Fire!' you're going to blow them to hell. What do you say?"

Shade nodded.

"Okay," said Ben. "Let's get started."

He spotted a group of zombies down the street. Loading his gun, he took off towards them, firing a few rounds into the group, but making sure most of them missed.

"You wanna taste of this?!" he yelled. "Come at me!"

The zombies shambled towards him. "Ben, what the hell?!" Matt exclaimed.

"Hold on," said Ben. "I know what I'm doing."

"I highly doubt that, but okay!"

Ben waited for the zombies to get close, then backed up. The zombies followed, their numbers getting slowly but steadily bigger as they went. Every once in a while, Ben would fire a few shots to keep it from getting too big. He backed up to the T-Mobile and stepped through the door, which had been shattered at some point during or after Z-Day.

"Are you insane?!" Matt yelled.

Ben ignored him and continued into the store. The zombies followed him. When he decided that they were close enough, he ran around the group and out the door. Running away as fast as he could, he yelled, "Fire!"

Shade shot, and the T-Mobile's windows exploded in a cloud of fire. He shot another one and the roof collapsed in. To finish the job, he fired one last time, and the walls collapsed. When the explosions cleared off, there was nothing left but charred, burning ruins and dead zombies.

Matt stared, dumbstruck. Ben walked over to him. "I believe that's a point for each of us," he said.

While they were scavenging, Trent, Brian, and Joey had found some fireworks. A whole lot of them. They decided to light them off that night. So, after they had dinner, while it was dark, they got flashlights and hiked to another neighborhood. Once there, Ben and Joey took the fireworks and laid them out in a line, connecting them all with one fuse.

Trent, Matt, and Brian got lawn chairs and sat in front of the back door. Shade was lying next to them, watching them curiously.

When Ben and Joey were done setting up the fireworks, Ben took a strike-all match out of his pocket and struck it on one of them. He lit the fuse, and the two of them ran over to watch with the others, who were standing a good distance away.

"You do realize we're going to have to get going as soon as this is over?" asked Trent. "This is going to attract a shitload of zombies."

"Yeah, but it'll be worth it," Joey replied.

The small flame fizzled away, until it reached the end of the fuse. The firework exploded upwards, and the sky lit up with a mosaic of fiery patterns and colors. They all looked up in amazement; it had been much too long since any of them had seen any fireworks. Shade, in fact, had never seen any.

Looking back, Matt realized this day was the happiest one he had had since Z-Day. The whole last week had been. He felt as if the good times would never end.

He should have realized that they would.

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**Hope you liked it! If you're upset by the lack of any plot or character development, I'll tell you that next weekend's chapter will be much more exciting :) Anyway, let me know what you think.**


	9. Chapter Eight: Good Times, Bad Times

**I don't really have any time to say much because Game of Thrones is on in twenty minutes and there's a lot more I have to get done tonight. But anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or night furies blah blah blah**

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**Chapter Eight:**

**Good Times, Bad Times**

**Harristown, New Hampshire**

That day was the happiest day of Matt's post Z-Day life. After that, everything went downhill. They began to grow restless, and tensions began to rise. Matt and Trent started to cause arguments among the group. They both wanted to move on. Matt wanted to look for more survivors, and Trent wanted to look for the solution to the zombie problem. They both felt that they had stayed much too long. But the others didn't want to leave just yet. They were happy where they were, and for Matt and Trent, that was irritating, and at times downright infuriating.

On December 14th, this tension came to a climax, when Ben made one of the dumbest mistakes of his life.

Matt, Shade, Brian, and Joey had gone out to get food. Ben and Trent had stayed behind to watch the house; they hadn't had that much fun on patrol recently, and had decided to start a guard duty.

When it happened, the two of them were just ending a massive arguement, and Trent had retreated upstairs to cool off by sniping some zombies from the window. Ben, having nothing to do, decided to surprise the others with a creative zombie kill.

He decided to try something he had wanted to do for a while; make a Molotov cocktail. He grabbed a bottle of alcohol from his seemingly-never-ending supply and opened it. He accidently spilled some on the floor, but he ignored them, deciding to clean them up after. He took a rag and stuck it into the bottle.

Placing the newly-made cocktail on the kitchen table, Ben looked around for his Zippo lighter. He saw it on the other side of the table, so he walked over and picked it up.

As he was making his way back around the table, he fiddled with the lighter with his hand, and absentmindedly activated it. A tiny wisp of flame appeared. At the same moment, his foot came down on top of the spilt vodka, and he slipped.

His reflexes kicked in and he grabbed the table edge. He managed to catch and steady himself, but knocked over the vodka, spilling it all over the table top, the floor, and his pants. At the same time, he dropped the lighter, and the alcohol caught fire.

"Shit!" he exclaimed. Heat and pain flared up his legs. His pants were on fire. Without even stopping to think about the rest of the fire, he ran outside and jumped into the snow. He rolled around until the fire was extinguished, and then laid there for a moment, a feeling of relief passing over him.

And then he remembered the kitchen.

"Fuck me sideways!" he exclaimed, getting back to his feet and running back into the kitchen. In the time he had spent outside, the fire had gotten much worse. The entire tabletop was alight, as well as two of the legs. To make matters worse, the wall was starting to catch as well.

Ben ran to the refrigerator and opened it, looking for something to put out the fire with. Unfortunately, they were all out of water.

He opened the covers, looking for baking soda, or anything like it. No such luck.

"Shit!" he yelled. "Shit shit shit!"

He ran upstairs and opened the door to the bedroom Trent was in. "Trent!" he exclaimed. "The kitchen's on fire!" The other man wasted no time in rushing down the stairs.

The fire had spread even more now. "Quick! Get some buckets! We can use some snow!" Trent yelled.

They found some buckets in a closet and ran outside to the snowbanks. As fast as they could, they filled the buckets with it and ran back into the house to pour it over the fire. Then they repeated the process several times. But they weren't quick enough; the fire was spreading faster than they could put it out. It was hopeless.

"This isn't going anywhere," Ben observed. "We need to get our stuff out right now."

"Okay," Trent agreed.

They ran inside and upstairs to gather their belongings, as well as those of their friends. They piled them all outside and waited.

As they watched the house with weight hearts, Ben had a vision of an open refrigerator door with alcohol in it, and panicked. "Shit!" he yelled.

"What?" Trent asked.

"All that booze in the fridge, and all that fire. We need to get out of here, no-"

He was cut off as an explosion rocked the house, shattering the windows, and sending a burst of flame through them. The shock wave lifted them off of their feet and sent them sprawling into the snowbank behind them.

"Never mind," he groaned as he clutched at his ears. They were filled with a high-pitched ringing noise.

Once he regained his ability to stand, Trent did so and looked at the house in shock. "What in the _blue_ _fuck _just happened?!" he yelled.

Ben looked guilty. "Well…"

Trent rounded on him. "Did you cause this?!"

"I was just trying to make a Molotov..."

"So, because you 'just wanted to make a Molotov,' we now have no shelter!" Trent yelled. "Way to go!"

"What are you so mad about, anyway?" Ben asked. "You've been bitching all throughout the last week about how we need to leave!"

Trent sighed. He was silent for a moment.

"What are we going to tell the others?" he asked. "Where are we supposed to call home now? Yes, I wanted to leave, but I wanted a place to come back to! Where are we going to go now?!" He shook his head and pointed at Ben. "You're a dead man," he said. "A dead man."

They stood there for a while in silence. Shame and guilt overtook Ben as the house burned.

"You did what?!"

The others had returned, and had practically exploded with rage. It had been a bad day for them already; they had found almost nothing while scavenging. And now, to make things worse, they had arrived at home to find nothing but a burning shell of what was once their comfortable home. To top it off, the explosion was beginning to attract zombies. Matt, Shade, and Trent picked them off while Brian and Joey figuratively tore Ben apart.

"I'm sorry!" Ben exclaimed.

"You're sorry?" Joey replied. "You're _sorry_?! You just burned my house down, and all you say is 'you're sorry'?! Fuck you! FUCK! YOU!"

"Where are we going to go?" Brian questioned. "Where the hell are we going to go?!"

"Guys!" Matt called. No response. "Guys!" he yelled this time, but they still didn't hear him over their arguing.

"GUYS!"

"What?!" Joey and Brian yelled in unison.

"Look, I understand that you're pissed right now," he said. "But we can talk about this later. Right now, we need to find somewhere safe to go."

"He's right," Trent agreed.

"But where?" asked Joey. "Where are we going to go?"

Matt thought hard about that. Then, an idea popped into his head.

"How about the school?" Matt suggested.

They looked at him in surprise and confusion.

"Think about it," he said. "It's big enough to shelter us and any other survivors we might find, and still have more room to fight and hide if zombies get in. On top of that, there are showers, kitchens, and even books in case we get bored."

"Hmmm…" said Ben. "I do like books…"

"Shut up," said Joey. "You have no say in this." He thought for a moment. "But right now, that's sounding better than staying here."

"Yeah…" said Brian. "You know, I never thought I'd say this again, but let's go to school."

They set off immediately.

The streets of Joey's neighborhood were hazardous, but not impassably so. They were just able to slip by without attracting too much attention. But as they made their way to the main road, it got much harder. The roads that led to the school were clogged with zombies.

"Let's move downtown," Trent suggested. "We can see if there's a pass at Cumby's, or somewhere around there."

Following Trent's plan, they cut through the forest until they emerged on the other side of the street from Cumby's- or, as it was called by its full name, Cumberland Farms. The roads in between them and the convenience store were just as hazardous as the previous route, and it became clear then that they would have to do some sneaking to get to the school.

As soon as they arrived in sight of the horde, the six of them immediately dropped to the ground. "Should we attack?" Matt asked. "Or should we let them pass?"

"We could probably take them on," Trent replied. "The question is, do we want to?"

"I don't know man," said Joey. "That's a big-ass horde."

"How much ammo do we have?" asked Brian.

Everybody was silent for a few moments as they checked their ammo. Matt had enough, but he would need more soon.

"Enough," said Trent. "But just barely."

It was the same for everyone else.

"I say we let them pass," Brian stated. "That way we can save our ammo for a real emergency.

"Agreed," said Matt.

"Aw, I wanted to shoot stuff up," Ben complained.

"Shut up you jackwagon," said Joey. "You aren't allowed to talk anymore."

"You're a mean leprechaun," said Ben.

Joey lunged at him. "You son of a bitch!" he exclaimed, swinging his fist. Brian and Trent restrained the two of them.

"Stop it!" Trent hissed. "Are you _trying_ to get us killed?"

When Joey had calmed down, they laid there in silence, doing the best they could to remain unnoticed, especially Shade, who had the hardest time doing so due to his size. After a few minutes, when the horde was finally gone, they stood back up.

"That was sketchy," Matt breathed, brushing dirt off of his clothes.

"I'll say," said Brian. "That horde was huge."

"Alright," said Trent as he stood up. "Let's get moving before another horde comes."

Matt stood up after him and turned to Shade. "I think you should wait on the other side. If another horde comes, you won't be able to hide."

Shade let out a whimper of concern. He didn't want to leave him alone in a place like this.

Matt patted the dragon's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Don't worry; I'll be fine," he reassured. "Tell you what; listen for gunshots. If anything goes wrong, you'll hear them, and you can come right back. Okay?"

Shade gave in and nodded. But he didn't like it.

"Okay. So, go in that direction," Matt said, gesturing towards the school. "Land somewhere between here and there." Shade nodded and took off.

They began the trek across the streets, but as soon as they left their cover they realized they were making a mistake. The horde wasn't gone, there was just a break in it; close by were even more zombies.

"Shit!" Joey exclaimed.

"Come on, hurry!" Brian urged.

They walked much more quickly, but by the time they had made it to the Cumby's parking lot and gas station, they realized they couldn't get across in time. They had to hide as quickly as they could

Matt saw a ruined car right next to him and dove under it. He squeezed himself in as tightly as he could, and kept a firm grip on his gun. The others followed suit. Soon, they were all underneath cars, and the first of the zombies arrived.

Matt held his breath and gripped his gun as tight as he could in terror. The only thing louder than the zombies' inhuman moans and shambling footsteps seemed to be the sound of his rapidly beating heart. He felt for sure that it would give him away, and that the zombies would find him, and bite him and tear him-

But they didn't find him. They just kept coming and coming. The horde seemed to be infinite; minutes passed, and more and more zombies shambled by, moaning, searching for food. Searching for them.

After what seemed like hours, Matt risked a look around. He spotted Ben, Trent, and Joey hiding under cars. But he couldn't see Brian. _He's probably behind something_, he thought. _Yeah, that's it. If he had been attacked, we would've heard something._

Still…

Matt pushed the thought away. There was nothing he could do now. If something had happened to Brian, he was dead. It sucked, but there was nothing he could do.

He slowly turned his head backwards. All he saw was more zombies coming up the street. But they seemed to be thinning out a little bit.

And then, he saw it. Down the street, just at the end of his vision, he saw it; the end of the horde. Before he knew what he was doing, he let out a loud sigh of relief. When he realized how disastrously stupid that was, he held his breath, and kept as still as possible.

Luckily for him, the zombies hadn't noticed.

He let his breath out- slowly and quietly this time. It looked like they were going to get out alive.

And then, Brian started screaming.

Before Matt even knew what was happening, gunfire exploded across the gas station. Zombie heads burst, and bodies fell to the ground in splatters of blood. He saw Ben, Trent, and Joey crawling out of their hiding places, shooting at the zombies.

"So much for stealth," he muttered to himself. He crawled out of the car and immediately joined the fight.

In the distance, he heard a deafening roar. He risked a quick look to the sky, and saw a black shape shooting towards them. Shade was coming to their rescue.

He then realized that the gas station was probably the worst possible spot for them to be in. If they got clear of it, however, Shade would be able to blow the zombies to hell and beyond.

"Get away from the gas!" he yelled. "Hurry!"

He started running in the direction of the school. Behind him, Ben and Trent were running as fast as they could, shooting zombies over their shoulders. A little ways back, Joey was running and supporting Brian at the same time. Brian was covered in blood, though whose blood Matt could not tell.

As soon as they got out of range, a high-pitched ballistic noise filled the air. A large black shaped flashed across his vision, and for a split second, a ball of light hung in the air.

Then, the gas station was ripped apart by a gigantic explosion. Burning cars and pieces of pump mechanism flew everywhere. The windows of Cumberland Farms shattered, and some of the walls collapsed from the impact of flying objects. Best of all, burning zombie chunks were raining from the sky.

"Point for Shade!" Ben yelled.

Matt kept running. Ahead of him was a small mob of zombies, blocking his path. He stopped and looked around, trying to find another way. Then, behind him, a burning car was hurtling towards him at fatal speeds.

He took another look around and realized he wouldn't be able to escape in time. He turned to face the car, and braced himself, readying his mind and body for the killing blow.

The car was twenty feet in front of him, and time seemed to slow. It was only a second away. Later, when he reflected on this moment, Matt sometimes had doubts, but deep in his heart, he knew that somehow, what he had seen was real.

In that one second, and just for that one second, he saw a strange, hooded figure in the woods. It was dressed entirely in black clothes that concealed even its face. Despite this, Matt somehow knew with absolute certainty that the figure was looking right at him. Then, he felt claws digging into his backpack, and he was lifted off the ground. The burning car flew by underneath him, and plowed into the zombies, crushing them with a sickening squelch.

Matt looked into the forest. The black figure was gone.

Shade flew Matt to the school. There were three buildings; the high school, a wide but single-story building tan in color; the Performing Arts Center; a smaller two-story building that was painted gray, and the Middle School, which was a lot like the High school. In front was a large parking lot and behind it was a massive field.

There were no zombies in the parking lot, so Shade dropped him off there. The Night Fury landed next to him, and looked at him in concern, letting out a quiet warble.

"Thanks," said Matt. He stepped forward and hugged Shade's neck. "Thanks a lot. I thought I was done for."

He felt Shade wrap his legs around his back, hugging him back, and realized that the dragon thought the same thing.

Matt broke off. "Okay, now go get the others. Quickly."

Shade flew away, and returned a minute later with Trent. He left again, leaving the two of them alone.

"What the hell happened?" Matt asked.

"I have no idea," said Trent. "One minute everything was quiet, and then suddenly the zombies were all over Brian."

Matt remembered all the blood that Brian had been covered in. "Is he okay?" he asked.

"I don't know," Trent replied. They listened for a moment, and heard shooting and yelling in the distance.

"It sounds like at least one of them is still alive," Matt observed.

Just then, Shade returned with Ben. He dropped him on the ground, and then flew off to get Brian and Joey.

"Ben!" Matt exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, falling to his knees. "I just need to rest for a second."

They stood there in silence, waiting for Shade to return. The gunfire had stopped. Matt didn't know whether to take that as a good sign or a bad one.

Then, Shade returned for the last time. This time, he had managed to pick up both Brian and Joey. He dropped them to the ground, and then landed next to Matt.

Joey fell to his knees, and breathed for a moment. Then, he ran over to Ben and punched him square in the nose, breaking it.

"What the fuck?!" Ben yelled, his hands clutching his now heavily bleeding face.

"You little cocksucker!" Joey shouted.

"What the hell did I do?!"

"If you hadn't burned down my house, none of this would've happened!"

"Guys," Brian said weakly.

Joey and Ben didn't hear him. They kept arguing.

"Guys!" Brian yelled.

They both stopped and turned to Brian. His hand was clutching his arm, and his clothes were soaked in blood.

"Help me…" he trailed off, and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Brian!" they exclaimed. They ran over to him and turned him over, and then froze in place, shocked at what they saw.

"God help us," said Trent.

"Brian… No…" said Joey, horrified.

When they had turned him over, his hand had fallen away from his arm. When it did, it had uncovered a huge, bleeding zombie bite.

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**So, how about that cliffhanger? Anyway, next chapter next week!**


	10. Chapter Nine: Aperture

**Alright, here's another chapter! And something at least some of you have been waiting a while for is finally going to happen...**

**Warning: From here on out, this story gets _really _weird.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD or Portal.**

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**Chapter Nine:**

**Aperture**

**Harristown, New Hampshire**

**Time since infection: 45 minutes**

About half an hour had passed since they had discovered Brian's bite. Quickly, they had performed First Aid to stop the bleeding, and had cleared out as much the high school as they could. They were currently barricaded in Room 611. Brian was still unconscious, but he was alive.

After they had arrived, they had pushed some tables that were in the room in front of the door, holding it shut. Now, they were sitting at the other tables, silently pondering what they were going to do. Joey and Matt were both listening to music quietly. Ben was as well, but he was only using one headphone. Shade was lying on the floor next to Matt, sleeping. Trent was looking through some files on his flash drive.

They all knew that Brian would die. There was no denying it. Nobody ever survived the zombie pathogen. However, Trent remembered something he had read in the flash drive a while ago; something that might save Brian.

Ben got up and walked over to him, holding an ice pack to his bloody, broken nose. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice nasally from his nose wound.

"Looking for something," Trent replied. "I remember reading it in a report somewhere… I can't remember which file it was in, though…"

He opened another file and read it. "Here it is!" He exclaimed.

The report read:

_June 23rd, 2013_

_The cure for the Z-Pathogen has been successfully developed. As of now, only three doses are currently in existence. The team responsible is currently studying the side effects of the cure in their underground laboratory beneath the city of Manchester, New Hampshire. Possibly the most important detail that the team uncovered was that the cure only works before the subject has been infected for 22 hours. After that mark, the cure rate is 0%. So far, 90% of the test subjects, excluding those that were administered the cure after the 22 hour mark, have reported no traces of the Pathogen left in their bodies. For the other 10%, the "cure" only quickens the effects of the disease. The team is currently attempting to fix this setback._

"Oh my God…" Ben breathed. "They were making cures?"

"Looks like," said Trent. "The Pathogen existed for at least a year before Z-Day. From what I'm getting, they thought that since it was reanimating dead bodies, than maybe they could figure out how to bring the dead back to life- actual life, not zombie life- by studying it. They were developing the cure in case the pathogen escaped. The problem is, these reports can get incredibly vague. It never even says who was writing them."

"This could be what you've been looking for!" Ben exclaimed

"It could save Brian," Trent agreed. "But no, it's not _that_ cure. And let me show you why."

Trent clicked through more reports. For a while, none of them were relevant to his interests, but after a while he found another one.

_July 7th, 2013_

_The team in Manchester has given another report. They still have been unable to determine all of the possible side effects, and haven't yet developed a solution to the 10% fatality problem. This may be in part due to their computer. They have reported that their AI has been acting very strangely, and has hindered their progress. Despite this, more cures have been made, and they report 10 currently in existence._

.

"I still don't understand," said Ben.

"Well, let's read the next report," Trent replied. A few reports later, they found further mention of the cure

_July 9th, 2013_

_A disturbing occurrence has come to our attention. The team in Manchester has completely ceased communication with the outside world. It could just be a communications failure, or something much worse. Judging by how much they've been working with the Z-Pathogen, these tidings are very disturbing. If something happened to them, it would not be catastrophic; we have the machine in New Hampshire as well. Still, it would be a great loss. A team has been sent in to investigate._

"I think I understand now," said Ben. "They made some cures, but were never able to make more?"

"I think that's just about right," said Trent.

"And that Machine it mentioned… Do you think that's the solution you're looking for?"

"It's the only lead I've got so far. Now, there was one more…"

Trent read through some more reports, and found another.

_July 11th, 2013_

_The team sent to the Manchester laboratory has not yet returned. We fear the worst, and unless they come back, we will write them off as dead and declare the laboratory off-limits. The research can continue without them._

"So we have to find this lab," Ben concluded.

"Exactly," said Trent. "There's no guarantee that there will be any cures left, but it's worth a try. Go and tell the others; I need to find some more info about this place."

Ben went to inform the others of Trent's plan, while Trent himself did some more research. He found some files about the lab and read through them, writing down the information he needed on a piece of paper. When he was done, Ben rounded the others up so Trent could explain his plan. "Okay," he said. "We can save Brian. But we'll need to split up. Shade, we need to get there as quickly as we can, so that means you're coming. We're going to have to get this done in 21 hours. Can you do that?"

Shade nodded.

"Good. Matt, you're coming too."

"Okay," Matt replied.

"Ben, Joey, I need you two to stay here and guard Brian and our supplies."

"But… But why do I have to stay? I helped make this plan!" Ben protested.

"No, you just heard it before everyone else," said Trent. "I'm sorry, but you need to stay."

"But… Fine."

"Alright, let's go."

**Time since infection: 2 hours and 15 minutes**

They had left a half hour later, and had been flying for almost an hour since.

Shade was holding up very well, considering this was his first long-distance flight since his accident. They were almost there, and his wings had only developed a dull ache. Matt sat in front, holding onto Shade's neck, and Trent sat behind him, holding onto his spines. Both of them carried backpacks with them. They rode mostly in silence, keeping to their own thoughts.

Eventually, Matt spoke. "What's the story behind this lab, anyway?" he asked.

"It was another experiment," Trent explained. "At least, that's how it started out. They wanted to see how one of their labs would function under the supervision of Artificial Intelligence. For years, it proved to be a success, and they even duplicated the experiment, until the incident happened. After that, all other AI systems in the United States were shut down."

"Do you think the AI is still functioning?" Matt asked.

"I don't know," said Trent. "If the theories about it are true… I hope to God not."

**Time since infection: 2 hours and 45 minutes**

They landed on the outskirts of Manchester. Trent directed them to a landing spot, where Shade touched down. They slid off of the dragon. "Follow me," said Trent.

He led them through a forest outside the city. After a few minutes, they came across a clearing with an old, abandoned shack.

"Is this it?" Matt asked. "They really let this place go."

"Oh, you'll change your mind once we get in," Trent replied.

Shade was sniffing the ground, curiously at first. He detected the smell of the lab, very faint, but there. Memories of his horrible life in the lab resurfaced; memories of being abused, violated, and treated like an object by the horrible overseers.

He pushed the memories from his head. There would be none of that waiting for him in there. But he still didn't want to go in.

And then, another scent caught his attention. A much fresher scent. A human had passed through here very recently. Sniffing further, Shade realized that he or she had in fact gone _into _the shack. Someone was in the laboratory.

They were two other scents as well; ones he didn't recognize.

And then, he smelled a fourth scent. One he _did _recognize.

_No…_ he thought. _It can't be… can it?_

He growled in warning. Matt heard him and turned. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Shade just stared into the warehouse.

"Is something in there?"

Shade nodded.

"Well, we have to go in anyway," said Trent. "We can't just let Brian die. Whoever's in there is someone we'll have to face."

They entered the warehouse to find it completely empty. "I don't see any lab," said Matt.

"Hold on," said Trent. He searched around the floorboards, eventually finding something. He dug his fingers into a crack in the floor and lifted a whole section up, revealing an unlit metal staircase just big enough for them all to fit into. It descended far into darkness, and they couldn't see the end.

"Let's go," said Trent.

They walked down the stairs, Trent taking the lead. Eventually, the light form above stopped illuminating the path ahead. Trent pulled out a flashlight, turned it on, and they continued.

When they finally reached the bottom of their dark descent, Trent shone his light on a big steel doorway. There was no handle; only a keypad with a blue LED light.

"The light's on. Looks like the power's still on in there," said Trent. "That means the AI might still be online as well."

"Great," said Matt, drawing his gun. "Let's just get this over with."

Trent punched in a six-digit password, and the LED light switched to green. The door slid open to reveal a brightly lit passageway. The walls were made of the same pale stone as the stairway, but under the lights they seemed much more inviting. They stepped through the door, and it slid shut behind them.

They walked down the hallway towards another descending staircase. Shade fell behind, sniffing the floor nervously. They reached the staircase and looked down, discovering that it led to another steel door. This one was different from the first in that it was curved inwards, and words were imprinted on the door; _Welcome to Aperture Laboratories._

"What the…" Matt trailed off in disbelief.

"Fun fact: the company Valve was secretly owned by whoever it was that ran this whole operation. The facility in the games _Portal_ and _Portal 2_ was based off of this laboratory. It was used to fund their research and dispel rumors."

"I've played those games… Does that mean I was funding their research?" Matt asked.

"Yep. The exact same genetic engineering that resulted in the zombie pathogen."

"Wow. I hate myself."

They approached the door and pressed a button on the wall next to it. It slid open to reveal an elevator. The elevator's cabin was cylindrical, and its walls were made of smooth, polished steel. Bright lights in the ceiling gleamed off the side, giving the interior an almost glowing aura.

"After you," said Trent.

Matt stepped in the elevator, and Trent and Shade followed. The elevator door slid shut automatically, and they started their descent.

"This is impressive," Matt admitted.

"Yeah," Trent agreed. "Wait until you see the rest. The report says this place is massive."

"How are we going to find the cure in time if it's that big?"

"Well, there's one room in particular that I think can help. It's one of many that hold back-ups for all the data in the lab in case of accidental erasure. If we can find that, we might be able to use the information there to find the cure."

"Do you know where it is?"

"I have an idea."

"Good. Let's get there quickly; this place is giving me the creeps."

After a few more seconds, the elevator shuddered to a stop, and the door slid open. They stepped out and found themselves in a lobby-like room, with desk in the middle. Three hallways intersected in the room. The walls were all smooth, unblemished white, with bright lights in the middle that made them almost blinding.

"Which way?" Matt asked.

Trent pointed over the desk. "That way," he said. He led their passage forward, and Matt and Shade followed behind.

Shade was still sniffing the ground. The scent was unmistakable now. He knew what it was, and it worried him. He walked up to Matt and nudged his head. Matt turned around to face him. "What?" he asked.

Shade looked at him anxiously.

"What?" Matt asked again. "What's wrong?"

Shade sniffed the ground, and then looked back at him.

"What do you smell?" Matt asked. "Is someone down here with us?"

Shade nodded.

"All the more reason to find this place," said Trent. "If someone's down here with us, they could be anywhere at any time. We'd have no way of knowing if they're all the way on the other side or right around the corner."

A sudden wave of paranoia swept through Matt's chest. He took a deep breath, and said, "Let's just find this cure and get out of here before we run into them."

They continued forward. Trent took a piece of paper out of his backpack and studied it.

"What's that?" Matt asked.

"Directions," Trent replied.

"Thank God."

As they made their way through the facility, Matt grew increasingly paranoid. Every time they turned a corner, he felt with certainty that they would run into someone- or something- that would instantly kill them.

Matt glanced at Shade. Even the dragon was much edgier than usual. Just a normal, everyday human being wouldn't do that to him. It had to be something else. This knowledge only managed to increase his paranoia; before he was scared, but now he was downright terrified. Every shadow hid a monster, and every creak was the sound of an enemy ready to attack.

Trent suddenly stiffened. "You hear that?" he whispered.

"Hear what?"

He slowly approached the corner, being careful not to make any sudden noises. Matt held his breath, his heart pounding. Slowly, he stuck his gun around the corner, and then jumped out, aiming it at the same time.

"Oh my God!" He yelled in terror, shooting his pistol.

Without even thinking, Matt sprang around the corner, his eyes closed, instinctively firing his weapon at whoever- or whatever- it was that had threatened Trent.

After he had unloaded a whole clip, he paused to reload. At the same time, he opened his eyes to see exactly what he had been shooting at.

Nothing.

Behind him, Trent was roaring with laughter.

"Oh my God," he breathed hysterically. "Oh my God. You should've seen the look on your face!

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Matt exclaimed. "That was a dick thing to do!"

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it!" Trent gasped through bouts of laughter.

Shade's ears were flattened against his head. He was not amused.

Matt walked over to him and shoved him backwards. "Go to hell," he said, and kept walking.

"Oh come on!" Trent protested. "It was just a joke!"

Shade walked by him, flicking him in the face with his ear and slapping him with his tail.

"Ow!"

**Time since infection: 2 hours and 45 minutes**

After several more minutes of searching, they finally found the room they were looking for.

"Here it is," said Trent, approaching another steel door.

"Thank God," Matt said, relieved that they had found it without running into trouble.

"Don't be celebrating just yet," said Trent. "We still have to find the cure, _and_ make our way back without running into trouble."

"Great. Be a buzz kill, why don't ya?"

Trent pressed a button on the wall next to the door to open it. They stepped through the threshold into a large room filled with computers and databases.

"So… Now what?" Matt asked.

"Well, let's try one of these computers," he suggested. He walked towards the back of the room and pressed the power button on one of them. It sprang to life, and a loading screen appeared. "Looks like it works," he said. "Now, you try to find information on here, and I'll look on another."

Trent went to another computer and turned it on. Meanwhile, Shade was still sniffing the floor. The scents had gotten stronger and fresher. After a few more sniffs, he picked up on a trail leading through the room. He followed the trail with his eyes to a door marked "Storage." The scents from that door were the strongest he had smelled yet.

_They're in there_, he thought. _And they're not alone. Oh no…_

He stared intensely at the door. Trent noticed him, and walked over. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Shade let out a warning growl, still staring at the door.

"What's in there?" He asked.

Shade growled again.

Trent tried to take a step forward, but Shade snapped his wing out in front of him, holding him back.

"Is someone in there?" he asked, quietly.

Shade nodded.

Trent stared at the door. Without taking his eyes off of it, he called to Matt. "Hey!"

"What's up?" Matt asked.

"I think someone's-"

He was cut off, as the door opened in front of him. A human hand appeared, and threw something small and spherical into the room with them. It landed on the ground next to Trent, and he backed off in panic.

"Grenade!" He yelled. "Get down!"

Matt turned around and shielded himself with his arms, at the same time staring nervously at the grenade on the floor. Shade and Trent backed off as fast as they could.

The grenade exploded, and produced a flash of light so bright that it burned itself over their vision. It was all that Matt could see. Beneath the ringing in his ears caused by the explosion, he heard several footsteps running through the room. He was able to count at least three different sets of feet. They went from the Storage room to the door that he, Trent and Shade had entered from. But not all of them. One of them stopped near Shade.

He heard Shade whimper in fear. _Someone's got him_, he thought. He tried to crawl in his friend's direction, but he knew he wouldn't make it in time. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, a male voice- neither his nor Trent's- sounded through the room.

"No!"

The entire room went silent. Matt still couldn't see anything, only hear. His heart pounded.

_Please… Not Shade…_

"Leave him," the voice said again.

For what felt like hours- but was in reality only a few seconds- nothing happened. And then, heavy footsteps moved towards the door and into the hallway.

Matt's vision was finally starting to clear. He stood up, and was able to catch a glimpse of someone running down the hallway, before the door slid shut.

Shaking, he ran over to Shade and helped him up. "What happened?" he asked to anyone who would answer.

"That bastard- whoever he was- had a flash bang," Trent replied.

"Jesus," said Matt, shakily. "Are you okay?" he asked Shade.

Shade nodded; he was just shaken up.

"You sure?"

Shade nodded again and stood up.

"Okay." Matt ran to the Storage door and peered in, making sure it was empty. He found nothing inside but old computers and various wires.

He turned back to Trent and said, "Let's find this cure and get the fuck out of here"

As quickly as they could, they activated computer after computer, running searches and looking for the cure. Shade kept guard at the door. It wasn't long before they found results.

"I think I found it!" Matt exclaimed. He opened the file and skimmed through it. "Yes, it's here!"

Trent ran over to him. "Where is it?" he asked.

"The Containment Center in the West Wing," Matt replied. "Do you know where that is?"

"No… but I know which way is West."

"Okay then, let's go."

He reached to power down the computer, when suddenly another voice filled the room.

"You people really are idiots, you know that?"

It was the voice that had spoken out earlier. Matt jumped in fright. When he turned around and saw no one, he yelled, "Where are you?"

No response.

"Can you hear me?" the voice asked.

It was coming from a speaker implanted in the wall, with a button next to it. Trent ran over and pushed the button. "Who the fuck is this?" he demanded.

"Honestly, that doesn't matter," the man on the other end said. "What matters is that you and your friends just walked right into a death trap."

"What are you talking about?"

"She's still here," the voice replied. "She's always been here. Ever since she wiped out the scientists, she's been watching over this place."

"Who?" Trent asked. "Who is she?"

The man ignored his question. "She tolerates me… I won't go into why… But she'll kill you. Maybe not right away, but she'll do it. She's probably watching you right now."

Something about this adversary's voice was bothering him. It felt so familiar, yet because of the diminished quality of the speaker he couldn't put his finger on who it was.

"Who is it?!" Trent yelled.

"It really is a shame," said the man. "You've got a really nice Night Fury with you. A tragic waste of life. I'd try to get him out, but I know he'd never come. Night Furies are too loyal for that."

Shade growled at that.

"Listen, you dickhead!" Trent yelled. "You tell us what's going on right now!"

"I'm sorry, but I really must be going," said the man. "I wish I could help you- I really do- but I made a deal with her."

"Don't you dare leave."

"Goodbye."

_"Goodbye."_

Another voice filled the room from an intercom near the ceiling. It was computerized, and female.

Matt's heart skipped a beat. He _definitely _knew that voice… It was unmistakable. _No… Please let this be a dream._

_"I've been watching you three," _said the voice. _"Normally I would've acted sooner, but… I couldn't resist seeing that confrontation."_

"Let us out. Now!" Trent demanded.

_"I'm afraid I can't do that,"_ said the voice. _"I have my needs, you see. And you were dumb enough to walk right in here."_

"I swear to God, when I get my hands on you…"

_"Oh, but you won't."_

At that, a clunking noise came from the doors, and a hissing noise filled the room.

_"All exits to the room have been sealed. As we speak, the air around you is being filled with a special toxin."_

"No… Please…" Matt begged.

_"I'd say you have about two minutes. Three for the dragon."_

"You bitch!" Matt yelled, tears of fear and rage welling in his eyes.

_"I've never tested a dragon before. I'm greatly looking forward to it."_

Shade growled ferociously.

Trent pressed the button on the speaker again. "Listen you bastard!" he yelled. "Don't leave a fellow human to die! There are already too little of us left!"

_"It's too late. He already left."_

"Please let us go," Matt begged. "We have a friend. He's infected, and he'll die if we don't get him the cure."

_"That is not my problem. The infected do not concern me in the least. They cannot get in, and even if they could they would be a quick fix. The Pathogen is contained so well that the only way to release it is to kill me. And even _that's _not guaranteed."_

"You heartless bitch!"

Trent, howling in anger, picked up a compuer and smashed it against the door. It did absolutely nothing, so he tried another one. And another one.

_"Stop that! Those are important!"_

"I don't care!" Trent yelled.

_"You're only making it worse for yourself. The more active you are, the quicker the toxin will take effect."_

"I don't give a shit! I'm going to die anyway!"

Matt and Shade just stood there, watching, unsure what to do. A minute passed, and Matt started to feel weak.

Trent was affected much quicker by the toxin. He was still smashing computers against the door, but his movements were now much weaker. Soon, he was barely able to walk. Finally, he collapsed to his knees, gasping.

"No…" he said, before he fell over, unconscious.

Matt, who had been leaning against a table this whole time, attempted to go to him. However, he had grown too weak. He collapsed to the floor and started crawling forward. He knew he wouldn't make it to Trent, so he changed direction to Shade. The dragon met his eyes. In that one look, they connected. They knew exactly what the other was feeling.

Matt continued to crawl forward, but eventually lost all the strength to do even that. He reached his arm out. "Shade…" he said weakly.

Shade walked over to him, his eyes full of agony. He nudged Matt's head, whimpering.

"Shade… I'm sorry…"

Those were his last words. With one final glance at his best friend's face, he was enveloped by darkness.

"No…" Shade trailed off. "No!" He continuously nudged Matt's body with his head, desperate to wake him up, but nothing worked.

He roared in anger and sorrow, and smashed a computer next to him. He felt himself growing weaker, and eventually couldn't even stand on his own legs. He fell to the floor and remained still, submitting.

A few seconds later, blackness took him.

* * *

**So, let me know what you think!**

**Now, because Chapter Ten is so short, I'm going to put up two this week... Chapter Ten will be up on Wednesday, and Chapter Eleven will be up on Sunday!**


	11. Chapter Ten: The Wait

**So, like I said, new chapter on Wednesday!**

**Sorry about the length of this one. It's really short. But, on Sunday, we'll get a really long one!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten:**

**The Wait**

**Harristown, New Hampshire**

**Time since infection: 7 hours**

Six hours had passed since Matt, Trent, and Shade had left to find the cure.

Joey was focusing all of his attention on Brian. He had developed a fever, and his skin was hot to the touch. It was getting steadily worse as the time passed.

"He's getting worse," Joey said to Ben. "They better get back here soon."

Ben was worried. Manchester wasn't really that far away. They were taking a long time to get back. It was possible they had run into some complications, but…

"If they don't get back soon… I don't know if they'll come back at all," said Ben.

**Time since infection: 8 hours**

Seven hours had passed.

Ben was willing to give it more time, but the horror of the situation was finally starting to sink in. They were stuck here, in a classroom, with their infected friend. Time was running out, and it was looking to him like the only people who _might _be able to help wouldn't be coming back.

"Joey…" he said. "They've been gone a while…"

"They'll be back," Joey insisted. "The laboratory must be big. They're having a hard time finding the cure, that's all."

Ben sighed. "Look," he said. "I know you don't want to lose Brian. But if they don't come back, there's nothing we can do. And there's nothing we can do to help them either. We are completely helpless right now." He paused, and then added, "I know that doesn't seem very comforting, but it's the truth."

"You know what?" Joey asked. "Go to hell. This is your fault. So shut the fuck up."

"You don't think I feel bad?!" Ben exclaimed. "I've felt nothing but guilt ever since the fire! But feeling bad isn't going to change any of this! It's all up to them now; if they don't get back, Brian's going to die! And if you won't accept that, then someone has too!"

With one movement, Joey pulled out his gun and cocked it, pointing it at Ben. "Oh yeah?" He said. "Well if Brian dies, his blood is on your hands. Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you."

Slowly, Ben lifted his hands above his head. "You wouldn't," he said.

"Try me."

Neither of them spoke a word for a minute. They stood there, staring at each other. Finally, Joey dropped his arm slightly and fired a bullet at the floor right between Ben's feet.

Ben jumped back, startled. "Jesus!" he yelled. "What the hell?!"

"Don't talk to me," Joey replied.

**Time since infection: 9 hours**

_They're coming back_, Joey thought. _They have too… Brian can't die._

No matter how much he tried to convince himself, however, he couldn't shake the feeling that the others were in trouble.

_Maybe Ben is right_, he thought. He cast the thought away. _No. He's wrong. He has to be. They'll be back…_

"Look," said Ben, breaking the silence once more. "I'm starving. We need food and warmth. I'm going to go find some fire wood, okay?"

"Whatever," said Joey.

"If I'm not back in a half hour, I'm probably dead."

**Time since infection: 10 hours**

An hour later, the two of them were sitting around a roaring fire, eating sandwiches. They ate in silence; neither of them wanting to say what the other was thinking.

There could be no denying it now. Matt, Trent, and Shade weren't back yet. Most likely they wouldn't be coming back at all.

Joey was still holding on to the hope that they would return, but that they had just gotten sidetracked. But Ben wasn't fooling himself. He knew that it was getting more and more unlikely that they would return.

He didn't want to have to kill Brian; the thought sent pangs of anguish through him. But he knew it would have to be done.

_God, I need a drink_, he thought. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a bottle of beer. _The only one that made it_, he thought. _I'll miss you when you're gone_.

"Oh my God!" Joey exclaimed.

"What?" asked Ben.

"How can you possibly have more alcohol? Are you a wizard or something? Have you been conjuring alcohol?"

Ben couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "No," he replied. "Let's just say… I have my ways."

Joey smirked, and stared off into space. After a few moments, he said, "Look… I'm sorry I pointed my gun at you earlier. It's just… Brian's the only one left."

"It's okay," said Ben. "But that's not true. I'm still here."

Joey shook his head. "No," he said. "That's not what I mean. Me and Brian… We were part of a team. But the rest of us were killed off quickly. And if Brian dies, well… I'll be the only one left…"

Neither of them were sure what to say after that. Finally, Ben said, "It's getting late. You should rest. I'll keep watch, and wake you up in a couple of hours."

**Time since infection: 18 hours and 45 minutes**

"Ben… Ben…"

Ben opened his eyes to see Joey shaking him awake.

"What…?" he asked, groggily. He sat up in his sleeping bag and put his glasses on.

"I'm going to go get some more wood," he said. "It's breakfast time."

"Okay," said Ben. "Did the others come back yet?"

Joey froze. "No," he said, his voice cold. "If I'm not back in a half hour, you know what happened."

"Okay," said Ben.

Grief began working its way through his mind, taking over. It had been almost a whole day, nd the others weren't back yet. There was only one likely explanation; they weren't coming back, and that meant Brian was as good as dead.

He went over to Brian. The fever had gotten worse- much worse. He was pale and clammy, and he had lost weight overnight. He looked like a corpse, and the only thing that indicated anything different was the ragged, infrequent rise and fall of his chest.

"Ben!" Joey exclaimed behind him.

Ben jumped. Joey had startled him; he hadn't expected him back for another ten minutes at least.

"What?" he asked, gasping.

"You need to see this. It's bad. Really bad."

Joey led Ben out of the room. When Ben turned to block up the door behind them, Joey stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "We've got bigger problems right now," he said.

They got to the front of the school, and saw something that made Ben's blood run cold. In front of the school was a gigantic zombie horde.

"I don't know if they know we're here," said Joey. "But they seem alert. What should we do?"

Ben closed his eyes and took a deep breath, thinking. "We're going to search all the rooms for ammo. We need as much as we can get. Even if we have to go to the PAC and the middle school. Then, we're going to get Brian to a safe place." He paused for a moment, and then added, "Brace yourself. Shit's about to get real."

* * *

**I think I'm actually going to keep this up... I've been putting this out really slowly, and we've got a _lot_ of material to cover in this story. So, for now, expect new chapters on Wednesdays as well!**

**Anyway, let me know what you think! And see you on Sunday!**


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